The poet Shelley tells an amusing story of the influence that language
"hard to be understood" exercises on the vulgar mind. Walking near Covent
Garden, London, he accidentally jostled against an Irish navvy, who, being
in a quarrelsome mood, seemed inclined to attack the poet. A crowd of
ragged sympathizers began to gather, when Shelley, calmly facing them,
deliberately pronounced:

"I have put my hand into the hamper, I have looked on the sacred barley, I
have eaten out of the drum. I have drunk and am well pleased. I have said,
'Knox Ompax,' and it is finished."

The effect was magical, the astonished Irishman fell back; his friends
began to question him. "What barley?" "Where's the hamper?" "What have you
been drinking?" and Shelley walked away unmolested.


94. OBEYING ORDERS

When General Sickles, after the second battle of Bull Run, assumed command
of a division of the Army of the Potomac, he gave an elaborate farewell
dinner to the officers of his old Excelsior Brigade.

"Now, boys, we will have a family gathering," he said to them, as they
assembled in his quarters. Pointing to the table, he continued: "Treat it
as you would the enemy."

As the feast ended, an Irish officer was discovered by Sickles in the act
of stowing away three bottles of champagne in his saddle-bags.