Du Maurier's Joke Pots

Du Maurier bas been mncb written about in the press by mm pretending to be his most intímate í'rieiids, thongh in one or two conspicuous instances the family of the late lamented were rather surprised at thjs presumption. Oue cf Du Maurier's institutious was a pair of vases which he called his "joke pots. " He used to receive a large number of contributions from English and American friends, all purporting to be true and worthyof an illustration byhim. I know at least several instances wbere friends of mine have sent bina texts which be very soon afterward used to good advantage. As these contributions arrived he threw. them into one of .these "joke pots" by way of filling - a new kind of pigeonhole. Then when a moment arrived in which he bad to scratch his head for a subject, he would dip his hand, or ratber bis arm, into this lottery and fish up one contribution after the other until he found one that ruight be regarded as a prize ticket. In order that he mightinsure himself against repetition he observed the routine of never putting a contribution back into the same "joke pot" from which he had extracted it, but deposited it in the second vase, until the first one had been cleared. Then he attacked the second one and emptied all the lottery slips back into the first, and so on, daily weeding out the worthless ones and refreshing his memory as to those best adapted to his pnrpose. The fact'febat these two "joke pots" were kept so tvell supplied by friends who volunteer: ed their contributions is in itself ampie testimony to the personal charm widely exercised by tbis warm bearted master of black and white. -