e audience in the
ruins of the building. Returning rather leisurely to the platform, he
whispered to Choate as he passed, "We shall all be in ---- in five
minutes"; then he told the crowd that there was no immediate danger if
they would slowly disperse. The post of danger, he added, was on the
platform, which was most weakly supported, therefore he and those with
him would be the last to leave. No doubt many lives were saved by his
coolness.

Many distinguished foreign and American statesmen were present at a
fashionable dinner party where wine was freely poured, but Schuyler
Colfax, then vice-president of the United States, declined to drink
from a proffered cup. "Colfax dares not drink," sneered a Senator who
had already taken too much. "You are right," said the Vice-President,
"I dare not."

When Grant was in Houston many years ago, he was given a rousing
reception. Naturally hospitable, and naturally inclined to like a man
of Grant's make-up, the Houstonites determined to go beyond any other
Southern city in the way of a banquet and other manifestations of their
good-will and hospitality. They made lavish preparations for the
dinner, the committee taking great pains to have the finest wines that
could be procured for the table that night. When the time came to
serve the wine, the headwaiter went first to Grant. Without a word the
general quietly turned down all the glasses at his plate. This
movement was a great surprise to the Texans, but they were equal to the
occasion. Without a single word being spoken, every man along the line
of the long tables turned his glasses down, and there was not a drop of
wine taken that night.

Two French officers at Waterloo were advancing to charge a greatly
superior force. One, observing that the other showed signs of fear,
said, "Sir, I believe you are frightened." "Yes, I am," was the reply,
"and if you were half as much frightened, you would run away."

"That's a brave man," said Wellington, when he saw a soldier turn pale
as he marched against a battery; "he knows his danger, and faces it."

"There are many cardinals and bishops at Worms," said a friend to
Luther, "and they will burn your body to ashes as they did that of John
Huss." Luther replied: "Although they should make a fire that should
reach from Worms to Wittenberg, and that should flame up to heaven, in
the Lord's name I would pass through it and appear before them." He
said to another: "I would