The life of John Worth KernBowers, Claude G. (Claude Gernade)
History
The life of John Worth Kern
Bowers, Claude G. (Claude Gernade)
Kern, John Worth, 1849-1917; Politicians -- United States -- Biography
“When mother and I were in England we happened to be lunching with
Mr. and Mrs. Henry Rauh of Indianapolis in a little café opposite
Windsor Castle, when suddenly from an unnoticed alcove came a deep
voice, saying, ‘Has anybody seen anything of Henry Rauh and Tom
Shipp?’ Upon investigating we found it was Mr. Kern, who was taking
a quiet lunch with Alonzo Green Smith. Nothing would do Mr. Kern
but that we all should meet him that evening in the Hotel Victoria,
where he promised an Indiana party.
“On arriving at the hotel that evening we found that in some
unaccountable manner Mr. Kern had rounded up ten Hoosiers, whom, it
seemed, he had run into at different times and places in England.
Mr. Kern furnished the refreshments generously and soon there was
created a ‘Banks of the Wabash’ atmosphere in Ol’ Lunnon. Most of
the inimitable stories he told were jokes on himself and
good-natured jests about English manners and customs. I wish I
could remember some of these, but my recollection is only of a most
unusual and pleasant Indiana evening in a far-away country,
provided by a gentle and genial man, who thought enough of his
Indiana friends to keep track of them even in the great city of
London.”
On leaving London the travelers went to Liverpool and thence to Dublin
and then on to the Lakes of Killarney, where they spent three days. Then
on to Cork, back to Dublin, then on to Belfast, the Giant’s Causeway,
Londonderry, and finally to Movelle, where they took passage on the
Columbia, a slow steamer, for home.
Some of Kern’s most amusing stories of the trip that he loved to tell in
later years were drawn from experiences in Ireland.
While the travelers were going through the Killarney country in a
jaunting car drawn by an old horse that made frequent pauses until
prodded by the driver, it occurred to Kern to play a joke on Smith, who
had not failed to observe, especially in England, a tendency to make the
tourists pay. Leaning close to the ex-attorney-general, Kern whispered,
“Do you notice how often this horse stops?”
“Yes. What’s the trouble?” Smith asked, instantly suspicious.
“We are paying by the hour,” whispered Kern, wickedly.
“Just watch me stop that,” growled Smith.
A moment later the horse again stopped to rest.
“What kind of a horse is that?” roared the ex-attorney-general.
“It’s a scan’ry horse,” answered the driver in soft tones.
“And what kind of horse is that?” demanded Smith.
“It’s a horse that stops before a beautiful piece of scan’ry when the
tourist ain’t got the sense to appreciate it,” sweetly replied the
driver without looking around.
The travelers sailed on August 25th, reaching New York ten days later,
much refreshed but without having received the physical benefits
expected.
II
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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