Jasper County Democrat, Volume 4, Number 37, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 21 December 1901 — CONDENSED STORIES. [ARTICLE]

CONDENSED STORIES.

Coolness and Common Sense of the Late Ameer. ‘ • The late ameer of Afghanistan once received his European dentist in open court and asked him there and then to look at his teeth. There was one old stump which was giving him much pain, and the dentist suggested to the ameer that he should take “laughing gas” and have it out. The ameer asked what the effect of the gas would be and, being told, said, “I cannot'risk being a dead man for five seconds, much less five minutes.” So, with the whole Afghan court looking on and a regiment of the escort as well, the dentist had to struggle with the difficult stump while the ameer sat, never moving a muscle. The ameer was a man of strong common sense, and this most valuable quality once saved a war between England and Russia. When, after the Pendjeh incident, the ameer went over the border of his country into India to meet the viceroy, there was a moment when peace and war hung on a man’s word. The viceroy told the ameer that the Russians had taken Afghan territory, that England had guaranteed him against such aggression and that England was prepared to fulfill its pledge. The ameer sat in the tent and pulled his beard and then asked for a map of Afghanistan. When one was brought, he asked that the territory seized should be pointed out to him. He traced with his finger the tiny fringe that had been taken and then swept his hand over the great space that represented the rest of his kingdom. “It is so little,” he said at last, “that it is not worth making a great war about it.” Anecdotes About Dorothy Drew. Many interesting stories are told of little Dorothy Drew, the favorite granddaughter of Gladstone. Quite a host of notabilities have entered their names on Dorothy’s list of friends. She coaxed an amazing autograph out of Li Hung Chang and has met Rudyard Kipling in one of his happiest moods. They had been in the grounds together when Mrs. Drew appeared. “Now, Dorothy, I have not been wearying Mr. Kipling,” said her mother, and Dorothy, the soul of frankness and honor, replied: “Oh, not a bit, mother. But he has been wearying me.” When no other power on earth tempt Gladstone from his books, Dorothy never pleaded in vain. He must have talked to her a great deal of Armenia, for Dorothy asked just after his death, “Do you think the Turks will be sorry grandpa is dead F* and to have added sadly, “I know tho Armenians will.”