The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1902-05-05
PRANKs IN PGRLIAMENT.
Amusing Practical Jokes Perpetrated
in the House of Commons.

CTit-Bits.)
/ NJ. P.-s are sometimes called the 'Fa-
] theirs of the Nation" But 1t must not
be supposed from this that a bald
! head, q gray beard. and a serious turn
I of mind are the chief qualifications for
a seat in the legislature.
Nor is the opinion that the house of
commons is an assembly Of grave and
solemn persOnages quite correct. In
deed. the house is so human that in the
making of the laws it likes best of all
TO be amused; and not even a school
OF boys has a keener relish for prac-
teal joke than our NJ. P.s.
Some sessions ago member while
/ addressing the house stood immediate
Iy beneath one of the heavy ornamental
/ ventilating shafts which are pendent
/ from the roof. On the benches at the
other side Of the chamber sat a num-
Der Of members. One of them, leaning
back in his seat, fixed his gaze upon
that particular shaft. Another, Won
dering what It was that so engrossed
the attention Of his colleague, turned
his eyes in the same direction. Right
through the group the cOntagiOn
spread until all had their heads re-
clining on the backs of their benches
and their gaze riveted on the shaft.
The member paused for q moment in
his speech, curious to ascertain what it
was that members opposite were inter
ested in. and looking up saw the long
shaft Immediately above him. The
thought that it was loose and about to
fall seized him. and without more ado
he hastily moved farther up the bench.
Then the group of gazing members sit
ting opposite laughed.
6 o o
Sometimes these jokes are perpe-
trated to serve party ends. A favorite
club Of conservative members of par
lament Is St Stephens. in Bridge
street opposite the clock tower. Elec-
trio bells ring in the commons, as in
the precincts of the house of commons,
when a division is about to be taken,
and when the shrill warning Of these
bells is heard, members who are in the
club hasten by an underground passage
to the house to record their votes.
Quite recently the government mar
rOwly escaped defeat in the division
Hobbies because about twenty Of their
supporters, who were known by the
whips to be in st. Stephens club. failed
to turn Up. 1t was discovered that just
, before the division the electric wires
between the house and the club were
out Of order.
Nothing was left undone in 1741 to
whip up members for the division on
the tory motion for the overthrow Of
Sir Robert WalpOle. the great whig
minister. Horace Walpole. the minis
ter's son, had a residence, as auditor
of the eXchequeT, connected with the
. house OF commons, and here he had
lodged six wing members who had been
carried from their siCk-beds TO take
part in the division. But their votes
were never recorded. The tories stuffed
up the keyhOle with mud and sand. and
J the door could not, in consequence, be
opened in time for the division.
Sir Thomas Wyse, an irish member,
: who subsequently became British am
bassador at Athens, once played an
: amusing prank upon a colleague. He
discovered on the table in the library
the manuscript OF a speech in support
of a bill for which he intended to vote,
and the whimsical notion took posses
, sion of him to commit the speech TO
memory and deliver it in the house
before the author Of It got the oppor-
2 tunity to speak Having a marvellous
-, " retentive memory, he quickly alb
I SOrbed the telling arguments and the
/, I eloquent periods of the speech; and
+, then, repairing to the house, poured
, / them glibIy forth in the very hearing
of the colleague who had no doubt
spent navy a day in their preparation.
The real author of the grafton was at
I first delighted to find the thoughts Of
> Wyse so singularly in accord with his
own. He then became mystified as
p Wyse continued to utter not only his
: own sentiments, but the very language
4 in which he had clothed them; and the
: truth at last dawniug upon him. NOR
+ tihcation took the place of perplexity,
on a st. Patrick's day recently a
small box was delivered through the
post TO Mr.. Arthur BalfoUr On beinE
q opened in the private room Of the lead
or of the house. it was found to con-
tain a bunch of shamrock. with a card
Il attached. inscribed. From a Sincere
e Admirer."
e But underneath was disclosed a white
3 compound like powder and a spiral
# spring. The terrible thought "dyna-
a mite" flashed across the mind Of Mr.
r. Balfour and the other ministers who
e were present: and without more ado
y the box was deposited in a pail oi
water. Then chemist was sent for q
II I examine its contents. He discovered
N that the white compound was simply
u sugar impregnated with lemon. And
Is at the bottom Of the box was a card
IS with the following legend:
s, Buy the whisky yourself. You car
l. then cOncoct the famous lemonade o.
Re BallyhoHy" It was a practical jok,
IF of certain prime bhOys' in the Irisi
a party.
p Lord Charles Beresford, on first en-
tering the house OF commons, a verl
= young man, in 1868, was inexpressibl!
addicted to playing pranks Of all kinds
> One old member, who suffered from
govt. used 70 retire TO one Of the bacl
benches under the reporters gallery
y behind the speakers chair, and takinl
= off his boots, sleep sOundly until awak
ened by the ringing Of the bells whicl
- precedes a division.
One night the old gentleman, on be
q ing aroused from his slumbers by
division. hastily put on one boot. bu
no trace Of the other could he find.
had disappeared in some mysteriou
fashion. The whips found him undo
the bench distractedly searching 70
the boot. and by force bundled hin
p into the lobby with one boot off an
the other boot on. amid rounds O
r. good natured laughter. Later on tn
A. missing boot was accidentally dis
is covered by Lord Charles Beresfor
az under his own particular seat.