The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1904-06-05

IT. Up in a balloon. Down again Dis
eussion AFTER dinner What his name S
davitz- Memory. Biblical question. Rev
crent butler Bishop Butler. comm
nation strong as Holy Writ AhsOlotn 3
haii- W elenty te5tnon5.s 4 winner a
moral Gain-and loss Next please.
TO finish
FOREGOING reference to that hos
pitable man or excellent taste,
Maurice Fitzgerald recalls TO ms
mind some memorable dinners, not SO
much on account Of the specially good
menus provided Oh those occasions mot
a few of which. by the way, I have
preserved as models, or as containing
useful suggestions) as for the sake Of
the exceptional couvives, or Of some
notable incident Now among these
were two "symDosia.' if may fairly
apply such "a description, the one be-
ing a dinner and the other dejeuner
"a Ia fourchette at 1880 a. mn The
arsr was given by Captain Fred Burn
abv at his club. and the other by
James Mcneil Whistler al his nrsC
studio. or rather an the studio he tenn
u0rarilv occupied when I hrst became
acquainted with him. But this, 20 use
Rudyard Kipling's phrase is another
story and ] viii recount the nfSJr as,
CuriOusly enough, containing matter
interesting to all students of Biblical
history.
Fred Burnaby invited q Harge party
Among the guests was our mutual
friend. the late Henri Doetsch, great
collector of curiOs and of Old pictures
which were supposed (by him at leastl
To bee OF rare value, and so II proved
I'm one sense, but not as he understood
IT, and Henry Lucy who not exactly
OF gigantic stature himself, was able
to count, Fred Burnaby as one of his
greatest as he was also one of his
tauest. friends. Henry Lucy has all
ready informed the world i'm his own
iuimitable style how their friendship
was cemented by his suddenly VOlun-
teerinE 10 accompany Burnaby IN a
balloon ascent and doing SO on the
spot. That was indeed the long and
short Of 1T and when they returned 70
earth they were thencefOrth bound to-
geJher by such strong ties Of COM
radeship as knit together only those
who together have been placed i'm cir
CumstanCes of some extraordinary
peril. The names of the other guests
escape me at this moment. but 10 was
a iOViaI company and the conversation
was sparkling.
Now 60 so happened that in the
course of discussion someone hap
pened to say that friend of his out
hunting had received "a blow on the
head from branch, which had
Knocked him right out of his saddle,
and he added i'm light-hearted fash
ion. "if his hair had only been as long
as What's his-name's me been hung up
in the tree and done for.'
whom do YOU mean by 'Whats-his-
name? asked Bunabyl
Who repeated the narrator of the
story "why. Of 0urse-um-um--
Absalom," suggested Lucy.
Bumaby smiled i'm his quiet way and
then observed, But, my dear fellow.
D don't quite follow yOH Do you mean
that it your friends hair had been as
long as AbsalOm he would have been
caught by it and -
And kept iu "a state of suspense.
nut in Lucy. until Job
NO, no.. the guest corrected him.
'-yCu mean sJOab' Lucy COurteOusiy
admitted his err0r--uutil JoaB came
up and stuck javelins into him
Burnaby smiled pityingly and then
inquired But d0 yuu suppose that
AbsalCm. hung by. his hair
Caught In the branches" said an
other of our couvives joining ia, and
evidently explaining the matter to his
own satisfaction.
"It is curious" observed Burnaby,
renectively, ana addressing the party
generally, for by this time we had all
been drawn into the discussion. 1T is
curious how people who think they
know the Bible wei Invariably quote
the death of Absalom as being caused
by his having been strung up by the
hair OF his head iu the branches of
tree and held there until JOaB rode
uD and desDatcled him.
well. but IL Yves SO, wasn't ito" we
asked. turning to one another. each
man being doubtful as TO the accuracy
of his own memory. and disincliued to
attribute 90 his neighbor any more
profound knowledge of the subject
Jhan he himself possessed.
'Um-eh." Qu1Jh Doetsch, with his
queer mterjecuoual manned and his
foreign accent Um-eh-A bsaI0m. I
forget him since 4 was a b0y-eh-um?
but i always thought he got into
some difficulty eh-um-'up tree,
-unl-eh2"
I had been silent. trying to recall the
scene as pictured in the book Of sam
uei-Was its-WhiCh h0okZ- and haV-
ing made up my mind with "a slight
reserEatioul i said TO Bumaby.
Il could almost swear that A bsaI0m
was caught hy his long hair I'm q tree
"I daresay you would swear it," re-
turned EuruaoT, but dS the EtOu
scboolboy says, VIII you bet sixpence?'
/ did not answer directly. as "a sud-
den light broke in upon me, and I said
more or less triumphautly-
"My dear Buruaby. why i recollect
the picture in the cid Illustrated fam
ily BiblL I recollecJ IL perfectly"
Bunaby nodded sIuiiingiy, Yes. you
remember "a picture of Absal0m hang
ing by his long hair 90 the branch Of
a tree and Joab spearing him as if he
WeI'e a salmon.
Most Of us. who were about the same
age, were ready 10 take their aihdav-
Its 10 this rs q fact anyhow
Precisely. said EuluabV- smiling
wow here's a sporting offer: 'I'u bet
each OF you an even sovereign an
round. than there's no mention iu that
chapter and verse of the Bible that de-
scribzs Absalom's death. on his being
caught by she hair of his head in the
branches of a tree
--Touu lose, was the general 0pin-
ion expressed by every one addressing
our host
-'rm sure as to- the hair" said Lucy.
inclined 10 hedge q bit, because isn't
there some mention Of its length and
weight
"And" added another. chow it had
TO be cut on iH order to get him DOWN.
cor course there IS, I affirmed, now
becoming convinced of the accuracy If
my memory "It says that his hair
weighed several shekeis. and. add
cd. with sudden intelligent illumination 4
~the description of IL comes in a few +.
verses later ol.-