RTHE LINE!
I FENCE |
M By ARTHUR RENWICK O'HARA ■ t
(Copyright, by Ford Pub. Co.)
"What a beast he must be!" cried 1
Barbara Hilton, attacking her break
fast savagely.
"My clear," said gentle Aunt Lettie, !
"I don't think the man realizes our j '
position."
"He certainly can comprehend that i 1
throe women and a Chinaman are not 1
capable of coping with his horrid, , '
prongy-horoed cattle," cried Barbara. '
"Ilow many times have the awful j '
creatures broken into our corn this 1
■week? Only three times!"
"Hut each time they got through our : 1
part of the fence, dear," said Aunt Let- j
tie.
"And what if they did?" demanded !
the indignant Harbara. "Does he ex
pect Wing to mend the fence? Or 1
Judy? Perhaps he thinks you might '
sfct in a few posts. Haven't we offered
double wages for help from his men '
time and again? But no—he prefers to 1
let those gaunt, hungry beasts get ,
two or three square meals each week
out of our cornfield. He hasn't the i
chivalrous instincts of a Digger In- j
dian."
Mr. Theodore N'orris, the owner of 1
the predatory livestock, was a hot tem
pered, eccentric gentleman of 50 odd
summers, who for a score of years had
•waged unintermittent war against the !
former proprietor of the Hilton ranch, j
so when Miss Lottie Hilton and her
ntece located in the stronghold of his
ancient enemy a vague idea that it be
fitted a confirmed bachelor to cherish
animosity toward the weaker sex,
and force of habit, impelled him to
continue the feud.
Therefore, he resolutely ignored his i
new neighbors, and repelled their tim- i
id advances. In a locality where hired i
help was almost unobtainable, here- j
fused to allow any of his men tore- \
pair Miss Lettie's half of the division
"Mr. Theodore Norris Was a Hot Tem
pered, Eccentric Gentleman."
fence, although, through Wing, she
made him liberal offers for their serv- j
ice,
it was Miss Hilton's half of the
fence that was defective. It was not '
his fault if the cattle broke through;
so he displayed no undue haste in |
getting them home. The "greasers" |
in his employ soon understood that
Mr. Norris lightly regarded the maraud- •
ings of his stock upon the Hilton j
crops, and acted accordingly. The
leisurely manner in which they drove I
the intruders out of field and garden j
moved Barbara to wrath, and the gen- [
tie.Aunt Lettie to plaintive tears.
"This has grown unbearable," said ■
Barbara one day, as the three women J
of the household sat flushed and pant
ing. after a prolonged tussle with Mr.
Norris' cattle in the broiling noonday j
sun. "When Wing comes home I !
shall send him to Cambria for posts
and wire, and to-morrow I shall build j
a new fence."
"Don't tell me you are In earnest, j
Barbara!" cried Aunt Lettie in con- !
sternation. "Just consider the un- j
pleasant attention it would attract, j
What would these ranch people think i
of a young lady, assisted by a China- j
man, building a fence?"
"They will probably jlirfffk we're j
tired of being eaten up alive by that
old fiend's cattle," replied Barbara.
"Wing," said Barbara despairingly, j
the next day, after Wing v ad toiled !
manfully, if awkwardly, for over an j
hour at his first post hole, "how do you j
ever expect to find that dirt again to i
fill in 'round our posts when we set!
them in? Do they dig that way in
China?" For Wing persisted in digging
with his long-handled shovel turned ,
toward himself, thus throwing the dirt ;
between his widely trousered legs, and
strewing it over an astonishing !
amount of territory.
"Here," she continued, "give me the !
shovel. Now watch me." And Bar-!
baca, grasping the shovel, proceeded i
to dig with much energy, carefully!
making a neat,pile of dirt by the cavl- [
ty for Wing's edification.
"Please let me do that," said a mas-1
culine voice, and the young lady I
looked up with a start to meet the gaze j
of a handsome, well-dressed young |
man. who stood bowing, with hat in I
hand.
"I am Jack Norris. Mr. Theodore;
Norris is my uncle. I only came yes- |
terday, and I can't begin to tell you i
how sorry I am about the trouble he j
has given you with his stock. He has
wrangled for so long with the people I
Who lived on this ranch he cau't real- j
ize that he nas really agreoaMe neigh
bors now. He is ordinarily one of the
kindest and best of men. I never be
fore knew him to be unreasonable,
but I'm sure he has never seen you
or your aunt," said this wily young
man.
"Ho lias never shown any anxiety
to meet us," remarked Barbara, "and
he has been most uncivil to Wing aud
Judy."
"1 bog that you will let me atone
for his discourtesy by helping you
with the fence. Please do. I ask as
a favor that you let me dig."
"Did your uncle send you to help
us?" queried Barbara. "If he did, I
shall refuse your aid, but if I thought
it would annoy him —"
"It would! It would!" cried Jack,
earnestly. "He would be furious."
"Very well, then," said Barbara, re
linquishing the long-handled imple
ment, "but mind, if he doesn't have
a fit of some kind 1 shall be very
much disappointed."
"It will be nothing short of apo
plexy," said Jack, solemnly, as he be
gan to dig.
And Mr. Norris, arrested in his
morning stroll by the astonishing
spectacle of his nephew digging post
hoios for his enemy, while bis enemy's
niece lightened his toil with pleasant
conversation, was so indignant that
Barbara, had she known, would have
been appeased.
"Bless my soul!" cried Mr. Nor
ris, breathing heavily and staring in
angry amazement at the unconscious
pair. "I won't have it," ho cried,
shaking his stick at the young people,
who were happily out of barring. "Do
you hear? 1 won't have it. I'll write
to that old harriden" (meaning Miss
Lottie, whom he had never seen) "and
warn her to keep that disgustingly
forward creature at home. But no,"
he continued, "these old maids have
such a confounded way of twisting the
the most harmless sort of a note into
a proposal. I'll just go see her, and
I'll talk pretty short, too. Lucky I
thought of it in time! 1 might have
let myself in for breach of promise
by writing."
Well, to make a long story short, he
did goto see Miss Lettie, and when
he saw the real Miss Lettie, with her
wavy brown hair and pink cheeks, in
stead of the shrewish old spinster of
his imagination, he forgot all about
the object of his call and apologized
humbly and sincerely for his former
conduct.
He and Miss Lettie found so many
fruitful themes of mutual interest that
they spent the entire morning in
pleasant discourse, and when he de
parted they found that much remained
unsaid; so after Jack and Barbara
had gone to work, he returned the
next morning, and yet many more
mornings.
"The last day—the very last day,"
said Jack one sunny morning. "Tho
line fence is finished."
"It seems to me you've been hor
ribly slow," said the ungrateful Bar
bara.
"Slow!" echoed Jack, reproachfully.
"Has the time seemed long to you?"
Barbara did not reply in words, but
the smile she gave him was most reas
suring.
"Hand the hammer, dear," he said,
"and don't go away, for 1 want you
to hold the wire. There now."
"Well, I think 1 can manage to hold
the wire without your supporting
arm," said Barbara. "I'm not de
crepit."
"I think," said the audacious young
man, "I'll just hold you here until you
put into words what your dear eyes
have often told me. Say: 'I love you,
Jack.' "
"My eyes!" cried Barbara, "what ex
traordinary lies they must tell!" and
she favored Jack with another radiant
smile. "Now, let me go," she contin
ued. "Wing will be here in a minute."
"Say it, then," said Jack, "for I
won't let you go until you do."
"Well, Jack," said Barbara, slowly,
"I do not altogether despise you."
"Now say I may speak to your aunt
and tell Uncle Theodore we're en
gaged."
"Gracious! No," cried Barbara,
"Aunt Lettie would think me so bold
and forward. Do you think she would
engage herself to a man she'd only
known six weeks? She'd die first.
We'll have to know each other at least
a year before we can be engaged, and
then she'll think it proper for us to
wait several years."
"Nonsense!" cried Jack. "We're en
gaged right this minute, and we'll be
married next month. We'll not wait
till we're old and gray-haired just to
satisfy the prudish notions of vener
able old fossils," and Jack empha
sized his declaration with a defiant
kiss, planted somewhere in the depths
of Barbara's sunbonnet.
"We're standing with our backs to»
ward you," said a bland voice, "and
as we can't see you, you needn't blush.
We've merely come to inspect your
work."
And the startled young folks glanced
up to behold a rear view of Miss Let
tie and Mr. Norris, who were stand
ing but a few yards away.
"You see before you," said Mr. Nor
ris, with great composure, as he and
Miss Lettie confrouted the astonished
young people, "two venerable fossils
who had no time to waste in long en
gagements; so they slipped away to
town and were quietly married this
morning, and now you are invited to
lunch with the aforementioned fossils
—if you have quite finished the lino
fence."
Few Autos in Chinese City.
The first automobile made its ap
] pearance in Shanghai In 1902 and
1 was an American car. After six years
! there are but 140 cars there, and only
I Ave of them are owned by natives.—
Consular and Trade Reports
REALLY FINE HOME
THE WHITE HOUSE AN IDEAL
PLACE OF ABODE.
Attention of All Washington Is Can
tered on the Family Next to Oc
cupy the Historic Old
Mansion.
There is an air of great expectancy
about the White House now. Atten
p— ———————n tion is all direct
, ed toward the
family next to oc
cupy the house,
/fo/niA aml - ln fact - to
i, i the historic old
imnVuMltl mansion itself.
n't 11 i .. It. is really the
liiMwmf
V'' i *j» aside from the
limelight which
no never dims. When |
n the linen covers
were removed
from the furniture and the floors, and
the curtains hung in their places at
the windows and the portieres at the
doors a few weeks ago the only new I
thing to be found was the clean white (
paint of the woodwork. This is all j
spick and span, but there were no
new furnishings, and not even any
new gold paint upon the little chairs
which the distinguished companies at
the musically occupy in the great east
| room.
This being the last year of one ad- j
ministration, and as the forthcoming
one is to be dominated by another, the
house will remain as it is, all changes
and improvements to be made by the
incoming family.
This winter will be the gayest seen
j since the first winter of Mr. Roose
j velt's presidency, when his elder
j daughter was presented to society, as
! history will repeat itself in the mat
ter of the presentation of the young
er daughter. The President and Mrs.
Roosevelt will have a ball for Miss
Ethel, as they had for Miss Alice
Roosevelt, now Mrs. Longworth.
This will be given December 28,
and the second daughter will dance
her way into society as the first daugh
ter did, in that historic room where :
Abigail Adams dried her clothes, and
which never saw the light fantastic
until the Harrison administration,
when Mrs. McKee gave a cotillion.
In addition to Miss Ethel's ball,
there will be dinners, luncheons, and J
breakfasts and ln (iuick and ,
strenuous succession, from the first of
December until March 4, when Mrs.
Roosevelt will turn over the household J
affairs to her successor as the first
lady of the land.
The rooms of Miss Ethel Roosevelt, I
on the north side of the mansion,
would never be recognized by the older
generation who were familiar with the
apartment of Nellie Grant.
It is more than likely that Miss
Helen Taft, who will be her success- ;
or as a White House debutante, will
be assigned to these rooms.
Instead of being a "room," it is
I now a suite, for during the improve
tiients to the mansion a few years ago,
a sitting room and bath were added
to Nellie Grant's former room, and
the suite was done over in the most
girlish of pale blues, with silk hang
ings and silver ornaments.
It is no secret that Mrs. Taft will
dispense almost constant hospitality j
during her regime as first lady of the
land, for she has such hosts of per- j
sonal friends in official life and out
of it, and in the army and navy cir
cles, that it will necessarily keep hoi fc
busy to see and entertain them.
It lias already been hinted that she j
will restore to their places on the
White House social calendar the pop- ,
ular afternoon receptions to women, ,
which was the custom of the mistress j
of the White house for many adminis- |
trations until they were discon
tinned by Mrs. Roosevelt. Mrs. Taft :
will follow the preoedent established '
by Mrs. Roosevelt of making music j
one of the features of the
season's entertaining in the
White House^
next year. t
White House Familiar to Mrs. Taft. |
Mrs. Taft is more familiar with the
White House than was any womi.n I
who has ever been called upon to pre
side over it. Her first visit to Wash-j
lngton was as the guest of Mrs. Hayes,
wife of President Rutherford B. Hayes,
to whom she was related. She was
very young then, being still a school-,
girl, and she acknowledges she can
feel the thrills which passed through
her while standing close behind Mrs.
Hayes on one of her afternoon recep- j
tions, at the insistence of "Aunt.
Lucy."
Later on she was the guest of Pres
ident. and Mrs. Harrison, being also a
relative of the latter. During Mr.
Taft's service as secretary of war ohe
has been a familiar visitor in the
White House, and has, as a matter of
fact, had the honor of first lady of
the land actually grow upon her.
Mexican Embassy Ranks High.
The Mexican embassy at. Washing
ton now occupies a social position
equal to that of any of the European
powers, its prestige under the Creels
having been greatly augmented Not
onl; the large private fortune of Senor !
Enrique C, Creel, the ambassador, but.
the good taste and breeding of Senora
Dona Angela, his wife, who is the
typical grande dame of Mexico, have
aecompli*l"."J the good work of placing
this embassy upon a new social foot
ing.
FOND OF THE KLESHPOTS.
Washington Man Close to the Top
When It Comes to Feeding.
My good friend, Alfred Angus Early,
who has been doing the —I mean doing
things for the national committee dur
ing the campaign—is getting fat,
writes Irving C. Norwood in the Wash
ington Star. The scales register
something like 250 pounds now, with
a tendency to trip at a slightly higher
figure with each succeeding week. Re
cently Mr. Early got worried. He
sought his family doctor and laid his
troubles before him.
"I'm not much of an eater. Doc,"'
said ho. "I have my breakfast at
eight in the morning and I never get
hungry much before ten. Even then
I don't indulge myself. Usually if 1
find myself uncomfortably empty I
drop into a Dutch restaurant and have
a tub of suds, with some sauerkraut
and frankfurters, and that carries me
over till noon, when I have my lunch,
and I'll admit it is usually a pretty
square meal. During the afternoon I
seldom eat more than a couple of
times, with an occasional drink to
wash it down, and I have my dinner
rather early, so that I sometimes get
hungry a couple of times during the
evening."
The learned physician kept a
straight face. "I can say only one
thing," he remarked, gravely; "you
must not eat so much. You positively
must not. You simply must promise
me that you will limit yourself to
three meals a day. If you do not I
can't answer for the consequences—
fatty degeneration and all that sort
of thing, you know."
Mr. Early sighed and sighed again
and tried to appear resigned.
"All right, Doc," said he, "if I must,
I must! Rut it's hard, it's blamed
hard, indeed! However, I promise.
Hut, Doc, on the level, ain't eating the
king of indoor sports?"
To Eat or Not to Eat?
That much mooted question, wheth
er the wives of the members of the
cabinet shall serve refreshments on
their days at home crops up as sure
ly as the season comes around. The
pros and cons are discussed and al
ways the debate ends in a "do as you
please." It saves an endless amount
of trouble to do without refreshments,
but the lack of seeming hospitality is
painful to some hostesses and they
are willing to undertake the "eating"
of the crowd and so earn the right to
laugh at many amusing incidents that
always follow the rush to the re
freshment table. And the one who
remembers Washington "befo' the
wah" and through the Cleveland ad
ministration will show open disapprov
al at the offer of "a cup of tea" Ln
stead of salad and punch.
But the capital has grown ever
since the days when the late William
C. Whitney was secretary of the navy
and provided champagne and terra
pin for Mrs. Whitney's callers on
Wednesdays, and when Mrs. John G.
Carlisle offered hot biscuits an*l home
made salad with the; hospitality of
Kentucky. Such a provision of food
would be impossible now. It would
be like turning one's house into a res
taurant except for the receipts. So it
remains to be seen what January wilt
bring forth, for the official receptions
will not begin until after the new
year, although all of the women of the
cabinet circle anil many of the wives
of senators will receive informally on
their days for their particular friends.
. Offered to Help Out Friend.
Charlie Hamilton, who came to
Washington with Admiral Cockburn
back in 1812, and, with that foresight
which has been his distinguishing
characteristic ever since, saw such a
wonderful future in store for Washing
ton that he remained and grew up
with the capital, stopped me on the
Row the other afternoon.
"Hist!" he said, or words to that
effect, taking me by the arm. I histed
and he led mc around coiners, up and
down streets, back and forth, and
around about, until, finally, wo
brought up in the shadow of the mon
ument. He paused. So did I.
"You write rotten poetry," said
Charles.
"Thanks," said I.
"So," he continued, "I sat down the
other evening and dashed off a little
Christmas poem. It's a blamed fine
poem. I'll let you have it for publi
cation the Saturday before Christmas.
You can sign your name to it."
Whereupon we beat it back to the
Row. —Irving C. Norwood, in Washing
ton Star.
Blaming the Teeth.
It is to the teeth that the patholo
gist should first look for an explana
tion of those emotional crises in the
lives of all of us which assume now
the form of an exaggeration of the sen
timent of romantic love, again an in
tensiflcation of insomnia, and some
times a development of religious sensi
bility to the boundary line of mania,
if Current Literature may be trusted.
Not only is toothache the cause, but
disease of a dental nature involving
no pain whatever to the victim works
its havoc and leads men and women
to madhouses and domestic miseries
and every kind of excess.
Seek Proper Championship.
Life's best school is living with peo
ple. Living alone nourishes much
that is not good and beautiful in hu
man nature, it promotes selfishness,
it jiives self-conceit an undue oppor
tunity lor growth and development.
It permits us to do too much as we
please, which is bail training for any
one el' us. One can never grow into
true nobleness of character, sweetness
of disposition and beauty of lif? living
ia solitude. —J. R. Miller.
MAKES A FLOATING COMPASS.
Peculiarity of Magnetized Needle
When Placed in Water.
If a thoroughly dry and clean sew
ing needle is very carefully laid on
the surface of the water in a basin
the needle will float in spite of the
high density of steel —seven or eight
times that of water.
On close inspection It is found that
the surface of the water is depressed
under the needle, very much as if
there were a thin film stretched over
the water, and slightly indented by the
weight of the needle. This property
of liquids, of offering a certain assist
ance to a force exerted upon their sur
face, is termed "surface extension."
The magnitude of the force of surface
tension varies from one liquid to an
other. It is greatest in the case of
mercury. The cause of the phenome
non must probably be looked for in
the attraction of the liquid molecules
to one another. A sewing needle, thus
floating upon water, may be used as a
compass, if it has previously been
magnetized. It will then point north
and south, and will maintain this i>o
sition if the containing vessel is
moved about; if the needle is dis
placed by force it will return to its
position along the magnetic meridian
as soon as the restraint Is removed.
CURRENCY OF FURS AND SKINS.
Primitive Mode of Exchange That Pre
vailed in Early Days.
In the early days of the United
States furs and skins were very gen
erally transferred from hand to hand
as money. Thus, in the northern
states, a pound of beaver was regard
ed as the unit of value, and in the
south the same weight of deerskin
performed a similar function. In the
far west furs retained a currency val
ue until quite a recent date. IJut, aft
er all, as a bale of skins was rather a
bulky roll of money to carry about, it
was customary to cut off small strips
as tokens of ownership and pass them
from hand to hand, while the skins
were deposited in recognized places of
security. Proof of rightful ownership
was demonstrated when the strip was
fitted to the part from which it had
been detached. Trickery in substitut
ing another skin was not so easy as
might be imagined, because it seldom
happened that two skins would prove
so exactly similar in shade and length
of fur where the strip was cut off as
to deceive even the eye of a novice.
Chess and Checks.
Chess was originally the game of
kings, the game of shahs. The word
"shah" became in old French "eschac,"
while the old French "eschecs" was
further corrupted into "chess." The
more original form chec has likewise
been preserved, though we little think
of it when we draw a cheque, or
when we suffer a check, or when we
speak of the chancellor of the ex
chequer. The great object of the chess
player is to protect the king, and
when the king is in danger the op
ponent is obliged to say "check," i.e.,
shah, the king. After this the various
meanings of check, cheque, or ex
chequer become easily intelligible. Ex
chequer, or scaccarium, the name of
the chess board, was afterward used
for the checkered cloth on which ac
counts were calculated by means of
counters.
The Right Sort of Wife.
An Atchison man recently refused
a proposal of marriage. "I like you,"
he said to the girl, "but you have too
many friends. There would be too
many at our wedding, for you would
be afraid not to invite them all, and
your many friends wouldn't be satis
fled unless they made fools of us by
playing some kind of crazy pranks on
us when'we started on our wedding
journey. You have so many friends
that we would get all kinds of wed
ding presents that we don't want, and
would be kept poor in future trying to
pay back when the donors got mar
ried. You are nice, and I like you,
but what 1 am looking for in a wife ia
a woman who is friendless." —Atchison
Globe.
A Lost Bet.
An Irish waiter named Kenny was
noted for his wit and ready answers.
A party of gentlemen who were stay
ing at the hotel heard of Kenny's wit,
and one of them made a bet that he
would say something Kenny couldn't
answer at once.
A bottle of champagne was ordered:
the one who had made the bet took
hold of the bottle and commenced to
open it. The cork came out with a
"bang," and flew into Kenny's mouth.
"Ah," he said, "that is not the way
to Cork!"
Kenny took the cork out of his
mouth and replied: "No, but it's the
way to 'Kill-Kenny.' " —ldeas.
He Said It.
"Horace," remarked Mrs. Figtree,
"we are going to have company at din
ner, and I do wish you would brighten
up and look less like an honorary pall
bearer. Say something humorous."
The company came, and, with a few
preliminary coughs and winks, which
were intended to announce to his wife
that the witticism was about to be
perpetrated, Mr. Figtree said, timidly,
"Mary."
"Yes, dear, what is it?" asked Mrs.
Figtree, graciously.
"Have you got all of your hair oa
this evening?"— Judge.
Not Her Goal.
"Did you see where a man sued for
divorce from his wife because she was
a baseball player?"
"Probably he did it because she
didn't make enough iiome runs."
, BELF-CONT.IC L AND PROGRESS.
i Vital Truths as Set Forward by An
cient Philosopher.
Where then is progress? If any of
i you, withdrawing himself from exter
nals, turns to his own will to exercise
' it and to improve it by labor, so as to
make it conformable to nature, elevat
ed, free, unrestrained, unimpeded,)
faithful, modest; and if he has learned
that he who desires or avoids the
1 things which are not in his power can
neither be faithful nor free, but of
necessity ho must change with them
and be tossed about with them as in
a tempest, and of necessity must sub
ject himself to others who have the
power to procure or prevent what he
desires or would avoid; finally, when
he rises in the morning, if he observes
and keeps these rules, bathes as a
man of fidelity, eats as a modest man;
In like manner, if in every matter that
occurs he works out his chief princi
ples as the runner does wilh refer
ence to running, and the trainer of the
voice with reference to the voice—
this is the man who truly makes prog
ress.—Epictetus.
HE DIDN'T CATCH THE RABBIT.
Brother Dickey Had Good Reasons
for Not Doing So.
"I tole de man dat I wuz mighty
short er coal an' wood," said Brother
Dickey, "an' he tol' me, did I know
how ter git some, an' I tol' 'urn 'no —
dat's what I wuz tryin' ter know,' an'
de man say:
"'You go down yander, ter whar de.
graveyard at, an' fetch me de front
foot er a graveyard rabbit, an' I'll give
you half a ton er coal. I pertickler
wants dat rabbit foot ter take off a
spell somebody put on me.' "
"Well, did you get the rabbit foot?"
someone asked.
"No, suh. De place whar de grave
yard at is too fur far me ter travel,
bein' ez I got de rheumatism; 'sides
dat, ef de dead is at peace it ain't de
likes er me ter wake 'um up ag'in ter
de tribulations er dis sufferin' ol'
worl'!"—Atlanta Constitution.
Whence Pie?
The origin of pie, especially mince
pie, like the origin of sausage, is
shrouded in mystery, but certain it is
that it was known as far back as the
time of Piers the Plowman, and it
may be that in his dinner pail could
have been found the precedent which
Michael of Pittsburg, now of the hos
pital, sought to follow. Those who
are surprised, after being led to be
lieve that New Rngland is the habitat
of the article, to learn that pie is an
old English institution can easily ac
cept the further statement that "plant
ed on American soil it forthwith ran
rampant and burst forth into an un
told variety of genera and species."
Like the Irish potato, which is said
to have originated in the new world,
it has been so ingrafted into the life
of its adopted country that it seems
more like a native than an alien.
Rewarded!
The other day a boy received one
dollar for restoring to the loser ?50,000
of gilt-edged bonds. Surely this is not
a premium on honesty. A porter
found SSO,OOO of diamonds and pearls
in a Pullman car, and got $25 for re
turning the trinkets. A prominent
man losl a letter that might em
barrass him and advertised "Ample Re
ward!" That letter was not worth a
cent to the finder; but when he gave
it up he got fliOO in cash, much to his
astonishment, "I'm a poor man, all
right, ail right," he said, "but this is
too much. What? Just for picking
up a letter in the street ? Say, mister;
here's your $:100. Give it to some other
charity. I read it, of course; but I'll
never peach on you. Gimme six dol
lars to buy my kid a suit of clothes,
and we'll call the incident closed for
ever." —New York Press.
African Races.
The indigenous races of Africa are
considered to be four in number, name
ly: The negroes proper, who occupy a
central zone, stretching from the At- '
lantic to the Egyptian Sudan, and who
comprise an enormous number of di
verse tribes; the Fulahs (with whom
the Nubians are associated), settled
mainly between Lake Chad and the
Niger; the Bantus, who occupy the
whole south, except its extremity, and
the Hottentots, who are in that ex
treme southern region. Some anthro
pologists include the Kaffirs and Be
chuanas are Bantu tribes. The north
and northeast are occupied by Semitic
and Hamitic races, the latter includ
ing Abyssinians and Gallas.
More Psychology.
"Lady," said Plodding Pete, as he
finished the luncheon which had been
provided, "I said I'd do me best, to
help out wid *de wood-choppin'."
"That's what you said."
"An' I'm a man of me word."
"Then why don't you reach for the
ax and goto work?"
"Lady, 1 merely took de contract. I
didn't guarantee to do de work my
self. I'm a telepathic wood-chopper,
an' if you don't disturb me while I'm
concentratin' my thoughts I'll surprise
you. Jes' remember, if anybody walks
up '.ike he's half awake an' goes to
work on dat wood, dat I'm de grateful
party who mesmerized him."
Wasted Efforts.
One evening when Tommy, aged
five, was having his daily bath his
nurse was trying, with small success,
to scrub his grimy little kn»es.
After watching her for some time ha
I said, patronizingly:
"Never mind, Bertha.- Don't you
I know that's the dark meat, anyway?"
I —Harper's Monthly.