The Montgomery advertiser., 1903-10-11
WORLD IS VERY SMALL.
STORIES OF ODD MEETINGS ARE i. TOLD.
Two Encounters With Black Bears. A Lost Purse in Chicago and One in Russia-Two Citizcns of
 Harlem in Japan-A
 Pickpocket's Travels.

New York Sun.
 On board an excursion boat on one of the days when the Reliance and sham rock III. sailed an unfinished race two guests of the New York Yacht Club each of whom had heard that the other was dead. came together for the first time in twenty-two years The incident started a group of passengers to telling of per- sonal experiences Illustrating the small ness of the world while the two contend ing yachts drifted in the doldrums.
 'Last summer" said an officer of ar tillery now stationed at one of tho posts in New York Harbor, II visited Glen Is- land with my wife. There were some small black bears in a cage there that ln- terested us good deal. for we hadn't got real close to any black bears for seven or eight years, or since I was stationed with my battery out at Fort Canby. at the mouth of the Columbia River. in the State of f Washington. Then my wife said:
 Do you remember the half-Chinaman in your battery who trained the two cubs to waltz with each other?"
 'T remembered of course. The half Chinaman-the other half of him was Danish--was an intelligent fellow and made such good soldier that had given him the non-com's stripes soon after he had joined the battery from Seattle, where he enlisted. He had been an English and German interpreter in Shanghai before coming to this country.
 " Surely. I replied to nay wife's ques- tion. That fellow was a genius in train- ing animals. anyhow. 1 wonder what ever became of him?'
 Here, sir said a voice immediately behind me. ~
 T wheeled about-and there was the half-Chinaman who had soldiered in my battery and who had taught the two Fort Canby bear cubs to waltz. with nicc- looking little woman on his arm. hadn't seen him for nearly eight years. or since being ordered to the Presidio from Fort Canby.
 'The little woman on his arm was his wife He had settled down to civilian life in New York, and was employed as correspondence clerk and translator by a New York firm in the China trade.
 "There was nothing phenomenal. of course, in my running across him after the lapse of eight years; officers of the army are forever meeting up with fellows that have soldiered under them. But it was extraordinary that I should have seen him again for the first time, while examining a lot of black bears In cage. and at the very moment when talking about his stunt in training couple of black bears at the remote army post w1ere l naO taSt seen nlfff.
 ''while visiting the Worlds Fair in Chi cago," said a middle-aged woman, who. with her married daughter, was of the storytelling group. II lost in an oyster house. one afternoon a chate1afne bag containing all of my own jewelry. and a diamond ornament, highly prized because it was her husbands wedding gift. be- longing to my daughter. was in a great state of panic. of course.
 A ( -xf.. turning to our hotel before a bellman brought, me the card of a woman of whom I had never heard. but. with my loss upperniost in my mind. hurried down to the reception room to meet her. She was very charming woman. but she was a thousand times more charming in my view. of course because she held my missing bag in her hands
 "'Had you missed ths?' she asked me and then she saw how terribly worried had been over the loss. and how relieved looked over the sight of the bag. and she handed 1t to me. everything intact jewels. money and all.
 | "She had taken luncheon at the same table in the oyster house at which my daughter and had sat. and she had &C., cidentally kicked tho fallen bag with her foot. She had opened the bag to seek something to identify the owner of it. had found some letters addressed to me and had hurried around to the hotel im- mediately to restore the bag to me
 "She was plainly a woman of refine ment and wealth. She was leaving Chi cago with her husband that night but before she went I sent to her hotel the incest bunch of roses that could find in Chicago.
 TWO years ago my dauzhter and I visited the great fair in Ni1ni- Novgorod in Rusaia We Ufern in iYY4p1ansa rus bazaar one afternoon. examining some tapestries when I chanced to see. pro- jectinR from beneath pile of rugs, a gold chain bag.
 'I picked it up and showed 1t to my