Evening star., 1896-12-19
COMPLETELY FOOLED.
mo-" NIKE Walsh Played a Joke on
the BOtanfst.


Mike Walsh of New York was an ante
bellum representative of district in that
city. and from portrayals of his character
by the daily press of that time appears to
nave been man of jest A bit of comedy
IN which Daniel Webster became involved
goes to show the quality of Mr. Walsils
humor.
Ihe Botanical Garden, north. of the Cap
itoi' was then in existence, though not
what II IS at present, and Representative
" alsh while walking past it one day with
several companions chsnced TO speak of it.
Ills lrlends We're admirers of the garden
ana or the skill and learning of an old
rrencnman IN charge of it. Mike. from
ha.ulai spirit OF contr ADDICTION, combated
every point brought out in it's favor by his
friends and said that Bowery boy could
make the botanist believe that wheat was
cats.
They had reached Mikes lodgings dur
ing the course of the conversation and
10 cilnch his argument he said that he
would himself hoodwink the professor and
"ouiu gather the materials for the hoax
on the spot So from a pile of rubbish
ear fence he selected a sound flower
POT ana then searched for something to
put IN 1t. This proved to be dead rat
Mlke paced 1t in the pot and carefully
tan above ground. Then taking a splinter
from an old green shutter he stuck 1t in
the pot and tiad the rodents tail to it per-
dicularly with piece of cord. The
PACK to the garden with his queer plant.
which ne informed the professor was
specimen of the. "rat-tailed cactus.'
HoOdwinking the Gardener.
friend of his. a lieutenant in the navy,
mad, he said. returned from the then lit
tie known land of Japan, and brought
with him this specimen of rare vege-
taple. The professor was most eager TO
become possessed Of the specimen, but
Mike was reluctant to part with it. To be
sure, he said, he might keep it for years
and never have a. visitor who knew any
thing about it. TO sshis the professor re-
pied That the publfc,e garden was the place
for 1t. then every She could see it. Mike
disliked to part fWith1a gift from a friend,
but finally yielded TO the professors en-
The botanist exafffned the growth crit
'caily and then attached slip of paper on
which was written a name composed of
two words. which Mike said averaged six
teen letters each. Then 1T was placed in
warm corner where the temperature was
supposed most ID resemble that of an ori-
entail country, Sid vas each. day sprihk1ed
with water healed Ito u degrees. Much
attention was ATTRACTED to the growth, and
the papers PRINTED AN article describing it.
Smsalesk n Rat. -0F'I .
Daniel Websten who occasionally visited
the garden, had Il ss1org conference with
the professor about the plant. and the
botanist promised 1.-The statesman one of
the first slips to, set cut at Marshfield, Mr..
Websters home, The cactus was closely
watched day by day, and when its>tip. as
result Of time and high temperature. be-
came slightly exGoriated the professors
delight knew no bounds; ''it was about to
bear blossoms" -.~
The Joke however, Mike said. was too
good to keep. especially In hot house.
and so before long they began to smell
rat" The botanist was. overcome with
chagrin and shame, but this was as moth
ing compared with the wrath of Webster,
who chiefly blamed the professor for hav-
ing taken him in and whom he styled, with
an oath, "a frog-eating Frenchman." -.