Evening Republican, Volume 15, Number 147, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 22 June 1911 — His Work Wasted. [ARTICLE]

His Work Wasted.

? At a reception at the Tuileries the Emperor Napoleon Thljd asked Edmund About if he knew Spanish. About, who had been long sighing for an important diplomatic post, answered prudently: “Not yet, sire.” But the very next day he went hard to work to learn it, and a few months later he said to the emperor: “Sire, I can speak Spanish now.” Though the sovereign seemed rather surprised About continued, nothing daunted: “I have learned Spanish because your majesty asked me if I could speak that language.” "Ah, yes,” answered Napoleon, “I remember, now. I had just been reading ‘Don Quixote’ in the original, and had taken great pleasure in it.”