Laughing with Lafayette

The following true incident was another of those glimpses of Lafayette's self-deprecating sense of humor that I simply had to include in this story. Despite having been welcomed like a rock star for nearly a year all over America, this famous man could till laugh at himself in a most charming fashion! 

It turned out that after Mr. Parker had introduced the “false” Lafayette to the real one, he had recounted how he had made speeches all the way from Boston explaining that his passenger was not Lafayette. The Nation’s Guest had roared with laughter, then said that perhaps Mr. Parker could alternate with him in speech- making the remainder of the route to Concord. “This was said in such a comical way that we all guffawed, for we all knew that no one could be a substitute for the famous man himself.”
                               - A Buss from Lafayette, copyright 2016 by Dorothea Jensen