The Birmingham age-herald., 1912-09-01
STORY OF 4 BISCUIT
 AND PR|zEF|GHTER How Georges Carpentier Chastised Irate Father AT PARIS DUCK POND Little Son Fell Into Water While He Was Trying to Give Ducks and
 Swans a Piece of His Biscuit
AT PARIS DUCK POND

l Paris, August 31.-(Special)- Georges Carpenter, who has won successive box | ing championships of France in the featherweight, lightweight. welterweight 1 and middleweight divisions, furnished u dramatic climax to scene witnessed by an American traveller in Paris the other l day.
 | A small boy in a sailor suit was sitting at the edge of the larger lake in the Bois de Boulogne. He ought not to have been | sitting there at all, for there had been storm early in the afternoon, and the | path round the lake was muddy. This was likely to be noticeable when the small boy got up again, for the suit he was wearing was white sailor suit | He held large biscuit in his right hand, and he looked at it doubtfully. It was quite easy to see that his doubts were not of the biscuit itselfs He was evident | ly pleased with that, but every now ana then he glanced from his biscuit to the | ducks on the pond. obviously wondering | whether they could be persuaded to eat outeof his hand and whether. in case | they could, the pleasure he would get from feeding them would be worth the sacrifice | of the biscuit.
 1 After considerable hesitation he made up his mind. The ducks were very fas7 cinating ducks. Parisians are very proud l of the little Bois de Boulogne. and the | municipal council spends a great deal Of money on 1t.
 1 On the island in the middle of the lake l is beautiful little chalet made of rare woods of different colors inlaid. It was | a present, many years ago, to the Elm press Eugene, and after France became a republic for the third time the chalet became state property. The state sold it. | but the town bought 1t, and it is now an
 ornament to the lake in the Bois de 1 Boulogne
 1 When the chalet was put on the island the commonplace egg laying quacking l French ducks, which had been good
 enough for the lake until then. became 1 too commonplace The municipal council l invested in ducks and water birds from
 a distance, and these birds are so charm l ing to youthful Parisians that they cost
 the resources of the city very little for food
 l The small boy in the white sailor suit l broke off a piece of his biscuit and of fered 1t to speckled duck with yellow
 paddles and a tuft of gray feathers on
 his head. The duck looked at the boy and
 looked at the arrow root biscuit, but could
 not make up his mind to take it.
 Had Tried It Before 1 A few days ago another boy in a white l sailor suit had tried to grab the neck of | a confiding duck after enticing him to
 the edge of the pond with biscuit. The
 duck with the crest came from New Zea- land. and was cunning He wanted the biscuit. but he wanted it without risk, and he was thinking things over. 1 He thought things over just a little too l long. As the feathers of his crest flat | tened down on his head and he stretched his bill forward brick red bill and a long black neck came between him and the bis l cult.
 1 The red bill belonged to a black swan from western Australia. He was a greedy swan. and as the piece of arrowroot bis cult vanished the small boy in the white sailor suit popped his fingers into his mouth to make sure that the greedy red bill had not taken them as well.
 A cross looking man came round the path and shouted to the boy. Henri, he cried, "get up, you little scoundrel, or I'll trounce you within an inch of your life" The boy was used to being trounced. He had a nice long bit of biscuit which he thought the crested duck deserved after his disappointment, and he wanted to give it to him first. He held 1t out, and the red billed swan made for it. This was greedy. The red billed swan had eaten one piece the second one was for the duck.
 The swan didn't think so He snapped at the biscuit and held it. The boy held the other end and pulled. The swan pulled, too There was an angry shout from the man, there was a scream from the boy splash and a chatter of fright from the birds on the lake. The boy in the
 .Is- 1 Al .fs.. pery pathway and tumbled right into the N Nater.
 The crested duck (which never lost its crested head under any circumstances) secured the biscuit in the confusion, while the red billed swan made off with the boys sailor hat. Luckily for the finances of the town of Paris 1t was too big for him to eat, for an attempt to digest it would nave meant the necessity for the purchase of another red billed swan.
 Smacked and Sc0lded
 The big man pulled the boy out of the water with one hand and administered corr ection with the other. As he smacked him he scolded, and he scolded unpleas- artly He used words which no small boy should hear, and he smacSed him much too hard.
 This was the opinion of pretty little woman dressed in white. She forgot all about her white dress, and the Tact that the boy was in very muddy and very wet sailor suit. She had been watching from few yards away. and now she ran forward snatched the small boy away from his father and faced the angry man with fury blazing from a pair of very pretty eyes, while Henri clung to her white skirt with muddy hands.
 A smart young man, boy who looked about 1s in very fashionable clothes. strolied after the young woman in white. laugh - a little at her excitement.
 You are no better than big brute,"> she cried to the boys father. First of all you fall asleep-I suppose you drank too much at lunch-instead of looking after him, then you let him sit at the edge of the lake in a dangerous place. and when he falls in and, might have drowned him. self you beat him. instead of hurrying him home before he catches cold
 The boys father became purple in the face. He was one of those big men in a small position who are towards at heart and builies at nome. His wife never dared to contradict him. and he never reasoned with his son. but always smacked him. His reply to the womans angry accusa- tion was foul word.
 h., tr,