The Irish standard., 1900-11-03
WITTY MEN AND WOMEN,
Justin Mccarthy Relates Many Bright
Sayings of His Friends.

SuSAA MSN0Lluy NSAaSSo HAduy oAaSus
Sayings of His Friends.
1t has always been held to be rash
to attempt to reproduce witty sayings
one has heard, as so much of the wit
depends on the manner of person who
says them and the circumstances UNI
der which they are uttered. In spite
of this, writes Justin Mccarthy in
Chambers journal, I venture to set
down some of the sayings of some Of
the witty men and women i have
known, and if my readers should not
find every saying quite MS witty as l
thought 1t was at the time heard it
hope they will put down the fault to
the chronicler and not to the author
of the witty saying.
1 was travelling once with Dick
Power and some other Irish members
on night Journey on an Irish rail
way during the storm and stress Of a
general election Suddenly the train
came to a dead stand at place
where there was no station. Amaze
ment and alarm filled the minds of
some of us. "What could have hap
pened p we asked ourselves men,
tally. Gould the Tories have tern
up the rails? Could the Orangemen
have barricaded the line?'
1t took a great deal to alarm Dick
Power. He quietly rose from his seat
and thrust his head out of the window
in the hope of finding some explains
ton. What are we stopping for?"
he inquired of railway official who
happened to be passing just at that
moment: cts nothing, SIR" was the
reply. only we have had to detach
the engine All right" said Dick
Power, "only take care you don't go
on without IT.
Dick Power once had sharp con-
test for one of the Irish constituencies.
The contest was the more unpleasant
to him because his opponent, who was
formerly political colleague. had
! changed his principles and gone over
to the other side. Dick fought the
battle gallantly, according to his usual
fashion, and won the seat. :
On the night when the result Of the
election was made known Dick was
sitting with some friends in the prin-
cipal hotel OF the place. Suddenly
in came the defeated candidate, and,
casting an Indignant glance at Dick,
he exclaimed: "All is lost but honor!'
Dick cheerily said in reply: "All
right. l have got the seat and you
say you have got the honor, so we
both have got what we most wanted"
Lady Dorothy Neville, one Of the
wittiest women in London society, is
well known to most Americans who
visit London during the season.
was talking with Lady Dorothy
one day about Il lady to whom was
giving high praise and Lady Dorothy
seemed inclined to dispparage her.
''She is very CLEVER said. Lady
Dorothy shook her head scornfully.
But" 1 pleaded, 'she is so very well
read" "Co,ne, Gomez replied Lady
Dorothy, with a smile, ':she is evil
IDENTIFY much cleverer than thought,
since she has been able to make you
believe that she ever read anything
One night Il group Of members We're
talking in the smoking room Of the
House of Commons about a measure
which it was proposed to recommend
to the consideration of the govern
ment, and on which we We're all un-
derstood to be in complete agreement.
Suddenly a member who had up to
this time offered no objection and had,
indeed; sat in absolute silence-thougll
he was well known for, mn extraordin-
airy aptitude in spinning out talk on
the most trivial subj broke in with
the words: l suppose there is some
thing to be said on the other side.'''
81 dare say there is" Thomas Sex
ton observed, "and If we had cous
pie of months to spare you are just
the very man to say it; but then, you
see, the matter Is coming up on the
day after tomorrow and there really
is no time" 50 the little group broke
up. ..,g