ilo Forest Republican Is published svery Wednot lay, by J. E. WENKi Offioa in Smearbangh & Co.'i BailJln j XLM STBEET, TIONEST1, Vk. Termi, l.oo Per Year, No subscription received for a shorter period than three months. CorrspondenuiollolteJ from all parti of I be country. No notioe will be taken of Anonymous oommunloatlons. RATES OF ADVERTISING! One Square, one Inch, one inwtlon.,1 I 00 One Squire, one inch, on month. ., 8110 One Bquare. one inch, three months, . & (HI One Hipiara, one inch, one year.,... 100) '1 wo (Squares, one year 13 00 Quarter Column, one yeir B) Half Column, one year....... MOO Une Column, one year 100 00 Leeal advertisements ten cents per line each insertion. Marriages and dettb notice gratis. All billstoryearlyadvertisein'int' collected quarterly Temporary advertisement must be paid in advance. Job work cash on deliver. rr PTJBLICAH VOL. XXX. NO. 43. TIONESTA. PA., WEDNESDAY, FED. y, 1898. S1.00 PER ANNUM. RE "EST Five nuu.ircj nuu tuirty lnilliou bushels is the official estimate of tha United States wheat crop for 1897. New York clnira to be growing healthier. The death rate has de creased six aud a half per ceut. since 1891. The Pennsylvania Bankers' Associa tion hns voted to organize a chapter of the association, whose purpose shall be the erection in Philadelphia of a bronze statue of Robert Morris, the patriotic financier of the Revolution, and the founder of the first organized banks in the State, of Pennsylvania and the United States. Mr. Peary, the Arctio explorer, spooking of the generous gift of the Windward mado to him by Mr. Harmsworth, tho London publisher, expresses great gratification over this striking exhibition of English good fooling. Ho considers it another link injtho long chain of international courtesies exchaugod in Arctio explor ation. It is thought that tho influence of the French language, with its unas pirated h, is tho primary causo of that letter being so uncli ignored by Eng lish people. .Trench having been spoken so long in England and the people near the coast having come in contact continually with that lan guage, an indelible impression, it is paid, is left npou it, increased now by usage i.. . . . . j . . . . According to tho Chief of the Penn sylvania State Bureau of Railroads, the bicycle is hurting the business of tho railroads. Ho says: "In cities like Harrisburg and many others it cannot be gainsaid that the bicycle has become a most serious competitor of the railway. To reinforce this view of the case au observation was made on Third street in" that city during tho month of October, 1897. The observation covered two days, from seven in the morning to six in the evening. During that time 6078 per sons passod a given point, 1902 in tho cars and 4116 on bicycles; C7 7-10 per cent, on bicycles and 82 3-10 per cent, on the cars, or more than two to one in favor of the wheel." Says the Philadelphia Record1 Justice Patterson of New York, in a speech before the Law Club of that city recently, deplored the fact that the law had become so largely a trade instead of a profession; and on tho following day Dr. Edward Everett Hale, in an address before an educa tional body in the same city on "Mor ality in the Public Schools," made tho declaration: "There is dauger of the managers of a great maohino taking more pride in tho manhino aud its workings than in tha results it turns ont. Thin is the danger in our public schools." These words will, of course, ba resented as the views of pessimists; yet they come from men qualified to speak as public teachers, and com ing simultaneously they gain an em phasis which must command atten tion. We are accustomed to flatter ourselves with the idea that our devel opment along material lines neces sarily iuvolves a corresponding de velopment along intellectual aud moral linos. However that maybe, the fact can'no longer be denied that the commercial instinct is beginning to dominate almost every aotiou of our people. Anent the agitation in tho South for more diversified farming as a partial remedy for the alleged over-produo. tion of cotton, a correspondent of the Charleston News and Courier directs attention to the fact that many years ago South Carolina had a place in the reoords as au exporter of wheat flour and of corn. The flour exports begau about 1760 and continued into the present century nntil cotton sup planted wheat. It is believed that much more flour was manufacted iu the State oue hundred years ago than now,, although population aud re sources have multiplied many fold. A century and a half ago corn was "an important article of export" from the State, and the trade continued for over fifty years, as there is a record of about 100,000 bushels exported iu 1792. Not long thereafter corn became an article of import, and some years ago was reported as "the largest" article of that character. What was done with the soil of the State 100 years ago, the Courier says, cau be done again. In oue country the grow ing and grinding of wheat for local con sumption has beeu undertaken, and other couuties aro advised to follow the example. "We have proved by a long and stumbling experience," the Courier says, "that cotton does not take the place of wheat as the 'staff of life,' and thut no community can thrive w hose only manufacturing industry is that of ginning the fibre for market. " frit If wo be blithe and warm nl heart. If we be sound and pure within, No sorrow shall nbldo with us , Longer than dwells tbe sin; Though niitumn fogs the landscape fold, Though autumn tempests roam, Our summer is not over yet We keep tbe sun at homo. 1 r ' 1 BBBBimBimB 1 nt, KlUULC II.V VIIIA.I HERE was upon his face an intense, and even a comba tive look, as he stood in the wind swept piazza, with his hand upon the bell-pull. He secmod about to ring again, when tho door opened and he stepped quickly in, while a graceful form re cedod timidly before him. A pair of moist, dark eyes and a troubled face were averted from his, and there was a husky tremor in tho voice which said to him: "You mustn't come in, Jeff." "Madeleine," he bluntly exclaimed, "what does this mean?" "Mr. Laphain! Steve Laphaml" "Old Jacob Lapham's only your stepfather. He has no authority over you. His son is a fraud! Your mother " "Oh, Jeff, dear! that is the trouble! They have made her forbid me to speak to you! I cannot disobey her! She is dyiug! They have almost made her make me promise. Oh, Jeff, dear, I'm almost crazy!" "I should say you were," he growled, with a tierce light dancing across his face. "It was time for me to come. Is your mother really so low?" "She may last many days yet; per haps not twenty-four hours. Stephen Laphaui isn't there, but his father doesn't leave her for a minute. I've no chance to see her alone. She com manded me not to speak to you." "No, she didn't," said Jeff. "She only repeated something after old Jake Laphatn. What she was forced to say was no command of hers. Do be reasonable. She hat.no right to do it, auyhow; and she really didn't do it. Old Jake did. As for Steve,-the young " "Don't I kuow what he is?" said Madeleine, hysterically. "Didn't I bear what his father said tohim? They didn't know I beard " "What did they say?" demanded Jeff, as she hesitated, aud he closed the door behind him and led her into the parlor as he added: "What did you hear? Tell me the whole of it." "Oh, Jeff, dear," said Madeleine, "Mr. Laphain said to Steve that as soon as mother died they would re oord all tho deeds, before proving the will, and then they would own every dollar of the property. He said they could make me do what they pleased then." "What deeds?" he asked, in a firm but uuexcited way, that seemed to help her. "Deeds that mother made,", she said. "Deeds aud things that give them everything there is to give." "Did you ever sign any papers your self?" asked Jeff. "She couldn't do it alone." "I don't know what they were," re plied Madeleine. "I signed every paper Jbey had on the table, the night they said she would die before morn ing." "When was that?" he asked. "More than a month ago," she said; "and they put them all into the Bafe in the library." "I know where it is," said Jeff. "It's your own safe pow. It opens with a combiuutiou lock. You know the numbers, of course, and how to open it?" "No, I don't," she replied despair ingly. "I never knew how to open it, I dou't know the numbers, aud I can't tell you. They've kept them a secret. Mother said once that it was the Dec laration of Independence and the days of the week." "Oh!" exolaimed Jeff, with almost a laugh; "that's a riddle. Is anybody iu the library now?" "No," said Madeleine. "Nobody goos there." Jeff's face was angry aud stormy, in spite of his calm, reassuring manner, as he strode to the library-door and opened it. The room had a chilly, deserted look, and its grate was empty. A fireproof safe, pf medium Bize, stood iu one corner, and in an in stant the youug man was kneeling be fore it. "This is your safe, Madeleine Lane," he said. "May I open it?" "You may, but you cau't," she re plied; but his hand was on the knob of the safe-lock, and her cheeks burned with feverish excitement as she watched the quick, though care ful, turns of his wrist. "Twice this way," she counted. "Three times that way. Once around again or was it twice?" Just then she heard a faint click, and she saw the door of the safe swing wide open. It was as if a feat of necromancy had been performed be fore her eyes. Those of Jeff were searching the interior of the safe. "Here they are!" he exclaimed, as he pulled out of a pigeon-hole a package of long-folded, legal-looking documents, aud rose to his feet. "Please examine them with me, Made leine." n "This first lot," he said, turning them over, "are all deeds, of one sort o. 1. it. But If our heart bo void and cold. lie sure no good will live therein, But sorrow for the sorrow's sake, And sin because of sin; And aye tbo dropping of tbe leaf, And aye the falling of the snow, And aye the barren, barren earth I hough summer winds do blow. Edwnrd Wilbur Mason, in Youth's Companion, m m m m m m r w m r VF A lulk. 1 O. HTODDAItr, or another, to your own father, two or three to your mother, by which they owned their entire property. All of them are recorded. We have nothing to do with them. I'll put them back. There! Mow, Madeleine, just look at those! All of them now deeds. You and your mother to Jacob Laphain. You and she did actually sign them all." "I didu'tkuow what I was signing," gasped Madeleine, "But there were witnesses and a notary." "Each deed acknowledges a large sum of money actually paid, and here are the mortgages, bonds, notes, that old Jake Laphain paid that money out ior. 1 "There never were any mortgages," j said Madeleine, "but those are my own signatures all of thein." "They are dated as if they had been signed threo years ago," he said; "as soon as you were old enough. It's a very completely finished piece of rob bery. Hellow! What's this?" "She signed her will that very day," replied Madeleine. "Aunt Wickham aud Judge Wickham, and two other gentlemen, came here with Mr. Lap ham, and we were all in mother's room, but none of them knew what was in the will." "Exactly!" said Jeff. "How they did work the matter! Here are two wills, made tho sains, day. How could they make those stupid witnesses sign twice?" "I heard Mr. Lapham say, 'Sign here, and sign here,' " said Madeleine. "Judge Wickham was leaning over mother ond saying something to her." "He was unsuspecting," said Jeff. "This is really her will, giving all to you and making Judge Wickham and Deacon Morris her executors. This other thing gives all to Jacob Lap ham and makes him sole executor, giving you only a life estate. It says a great deal more, but it's a fraud." At that moment he was lighting a match and removing the blower from the library-grate. "Oh, Jeff, you dare not!" exclaimed Madeleiue, "you must not W What are you going to do?" "Nothing at all, he said, calmly. "But fire is good for fraud. How well it all burns! There go the deeds, and the mortgages, and the bonds, and all the notes. The will went np like a flash." "Dear me!" she said; but Jeff was once more investigating the safe. "Madeleine," he said, "here's a stack of greenbacks, and it's your own money. It is right where he can get it. Don't you think it ought to bo in a safer place ?"J "It must be mine!" she exclaimed. "It can't be his! He hasn't anything. He meant to steal it, surely!" "Meant to?" replied Jeff. "Why, he has already stolen it aud hidden it here. This is your safe, to be sure, but it isu't safe enough. You are going to put your money into the Compton National Bank. Fifteen thousand dollars and more. All that old Jacob Lapham has stolen during several years, except what Steve has wasted; one way or auother." "Put it into the bank for me, Jeff," said Madeleiue. "I dare not, and I cannot bear to leave the house." VT1I put the will right back where I found it," he said, as he did so. "They all Baw it deposited here?" "Yes," replied Madeleine. "Unole Wickham aud the witnesses came down and saw it put away there." "That's where they will find it, theu, when they come to look for it," said Jeff, aud he seemed to be worry ing iu a very curious way around the lock of the safe. "There! That'll do, I guess. Now, Madeleine, I must go." Not many, not very many, seconds later Jeff walked uuconcernedly out of the house, as if nothing extraordin ary had happened. Madeleine, on the other baud, after closing the door be hind him, went slowly and thought fully upstairs. A door at her right opeuod at that moment, and a tall, grim-looking womau stood iu it. "How is mother?" aHked Madeleine. "Is Mr. Lapham there?" "He is asleep just now," said tbe nurse. "She has not stirred or spoken." Madeleine walked past her iuto the room, and bent above an emaciated form lying upon the bed. The face was placid, but there could be no misunderstanding of the mes sage it couveyed. "Oh, if I could but speak to her!" thought Madeleiue, while her whole frame shook aud her own face grew as white as was that upon which she was gazing, aud theu a fuiut whisper broke through her lips: "Mother!" A pair of blue eyes opened languid ly, and the nurse now at the window, did not hear as acutely as did Made leiue: 1 "My daughter! Kiss me!" So quick, so passionate, so agoniz ingly intense was that meeting at the lips; but Madeleiue could now whis per: "Jeff has been here mother. He sent Lis love to you." 1 ' ...vo n'.m tiy love, dear. iJy Bon! It is easier to leave you with him " Just then the nurse turned sudden ly from the window, aud a burly form which had lain upon a sofa near it sprang vigorously to its feet and strode to the bedside. "Madeleine Lane! how dare you? She must not talk! Have 1 not for bidden this sort of thing?" "She is my mother, Mr. Laphain, and you are not my father," said Madeleiue, resolutely. "But I thiuk it best not to speak to her again, just now. If I did think best I should do so." There was a motion of a thin hand on the coverlet, and it was obeyed Madeleine stooped aud kissed her mother, and theu glided out of the sick-room, closely followed by the wrathful face of old Jacob Lapham. As for Jefferson Meredith, his walk to the village had been rapid, and his first visit was made at the hank. His next errand was to a dingily respect able law office. "Judge Wickham," he said to tho white-haired geutloman who wel comed him, "Miss Lane is somehow aware that you ond Deacon Morris are executors of her mother's will ,t "I had an idea, from herself, that I was to be one of them " "And the wishes yon to bo ready to act at once. Sho is not upon good terms with old Jake and Steve." "Ugh!" exclaimed the old lawyer. "Toll her I'll be ready." Perhaps it was as well that Made leine watched at her window, looking toward the village, and that Jeff was not again compelled to ring the door bell, for at the moment when she ad mitted him old Jacob Lapham was iu the library. "You take care of the bank-book," she said, when he had swiftly de tailed his business doings. "Don't stay." His face had darkened cloudily over what she had herself told him, but it cleared somewhat as he turned away. Even Madeleine did not hear him say to himself, aloud, as he was going down tho steps: "Oh, bnt don't I wish I could see old Jake and Steve at work on that safe!" Madeleine reached her room again nnobserved, all the more safely be cause her Btepfather was crouohing before tuat obstinate fireproof safe. twisting the knob to numbers that he knew, but which the lock refused to know anything about. He muttered, too, fiercely, even explosively, and at last he arose, exclaiming: "Weill If I can't open it, nobody else can. bometimos those things will work so. I've known it happen be fore. At any rate, I've got all those things fixed so that the property can't get away from me. I m sole executor and the will just nails and clinches the deeds. Madeleine lingered iu tier room only for a long, deep, silent fit of thinking. At the end of it she arose from her chair with a hard-drawn breath, and once more went over to the sick-room. The form upon the bed lay very still, but tho loving blue eyes opened as Madeleine again grasped the thin hand in hers. "I gave your message to Jeff, mother. He sent his love to you again." "I wish I could see him. My son!" she whispered. "Say good-by to him for me, dear. Kiss me, Madeleine. There there good-by. " There was a heavy hand upon Mad eleine's shoulder, as she rose, but she did not turn her fixed gaze from her mother's faoe. "What does she mean?" he harsh ly, hoarsely demanded. "Her son?" There was no answer in words, but even Jacob Lapham turned pale, aud the advancing nurse drew back again, while Madeleiue sank upon her knees for they were all suddenly aware that the last messenger had come. For Madeleine Lane all earthly things were veiled and put away. That hour of sobs and silence was no time to consider questions of property. There were others in the house, however, whose business activities were hindered, very apparently, less by the presence of death than by the strange perverseness of the lock of the safe iu the library. The knob of it was twisted and twisted iu the most weari some way. "Steve," remarked an anxious voice, at last, "we must have that money out! The deeds and mortgages must be recorded! Ouly one will must be found there! This is awful!" "We've some days yet, father, and we can blow it open." "We must do it ourselves, then. It won't do to have auybody else open that safe. We must let Madeleine alone, too, until after the funeral." "I don't care," growled Steve, "so long as Jeff Meredith is kept out of the house. Her Aunt Wickham is up there with her now." Aunt Wickham remained with Mad eleine all through the long, dark night of the first mourning. Then followed tho strange days of interval between a death and a burial. Old Jacob Lap ham had a great deal of walking up aud down in the parlor U do, for he was a bereaved man, with more than one grief to carry. The lock of the safe had much twisting to endure, but it still refused to remember its num bers. Judge Wickham came iu, and Mr. Lapham began to suy something to him about the safe and its contents, aud its conduct. "Pooh, pooh, Jacob!" responded the old lawyer; "you are in no condition for busiuess. It's no time for it, eith er. Wait till after the funeral. I'll at tend to everything for you just now. Madeleine, too she s all broken down." Another night passed and another day came, aud at the hour appointed Intro were carnages at tue door, a hero was no occasion for remark, however, when the mourners came out of the bouse, 111 the fnct that Madeleiue leaned ou the arm of Judge Wickham, and entered a carriage with him and his wife, her mother's sister, and with her mother's friend, Mrs. Meredith. If her stepfather and stepbrother did not like it, that was not the time for them to say so, or to employ author ity. The house was regained and was re entered by tho fnmily party, and no body else seemed to notice that Judgo Wickham went in last, aud that, as ho did so, he took the key out of the door aud put it iu his pocket. "Wickham," rs.id Mr. Laphain, as the old lawyer joined the rest in the parlor, "come in hero a moment. I can't open the safe. Nobody else knows the combination, but it won't open. Her will is there " "Try it again, Jacob try it again," said the judge, plaoidly. "You've been too agitated, too nervous " "We'll have to have it blown open," said Mr. Laphain; "but just to show how it is " And he did try it, with ostentatious precision, in full confidence that the look would continue its obstinacy, but when he remarked, "There!" and gave a hard pull, open flew tho door of the safe and its contents were on publio exhibition. "I declare!" exclaimed Mr. Lap ham, springing to his feet. "Remark able!" "There'sthe will, "said Judge Wick ham, calmly, as ho sent a long arm in and pulled out a paper lying in full view. The eyes of Jacob Lnphnm wero frantically se.whiug tho iuterior of the big iron e: 1 for something which they did not seem to find. "That is all. All correct, "continued Judge Wickham. "Deacon Morris and I are executors. Everything goes to Madeleine! I'll take possession at once. That ia, I'll leave her in full possession." "Give me that paper!" roared Jacob Lapham. "It isn't tho will!" "Yes, it is!" replied the judge. "1 know the signatures. I saw it put there. I was here. It's all right, Jacob." "There's auother will! The safo has been robbed! Money missing! Papers missing! I'm robbed!" "It isn't, your safe, Jacob; it is Miss Lane's safe. If there is another will, produce it." "Leave the house! I'm in control here! Get out! I'm in possession! "I think not," answered Judge Wickham. "Your authority has ceased. Miss Lane is '.in possession. She is absolute, unquestionable owner. You and Steve must go!" It was of little use to storm, but of course there was a storm, and it was all the worse because of the bewilder ing conduct of that safe. It con tained no other will, and when Judgo Wickham shut it up it almost seemed to wink at him. The Judge did not storm, but he was firm, and so was Madeleine, aud she, too, was calm, althongh she remarked: "If Stephen were a gentleman ho would not wish to remain, knowing, as he does, how utterly I detest him. After what you have said and done, Mr. Lapham, you must go at once. All that belongs to yon has been put into your own room." "Come upstairs," Steve, said hi father; and as soon as they were in Steve's room, he added: "Wickham is going ont to find Morris. As soon as lie is gone we will search that safe." "We'll clean it out, too," said Steve. Hardly had they left the library, however, before Jeffersou Meredith came iu from the dining-room, where he had passed most of his time during the funeral services, and once moro he worried the lock of the safe a little. "Is it all right, Jeff?" asked Judge Wickham. "Am not I to know the new combination? Cau't you explaiu it to me?" "Simplest thing in the world," said Jeff "Lots of peoplo remember their safe combinations that way. The rid dle was no riddle at all." "Independence, Fourth of July, and the days of the week? How was it? I must say it's a riddle to me." "Why," said Jeff, "don't you see it? The year, 1770. The days, 7. Di vide so 17 7 70. to get your three numbers. Twist the knob the usual way. That did it." "How is it now?" asked the lawyer. "All independence aud freedom," said Jeff. "It is 172170, aud that's what'U puzzle old Jacob when he comes down stairs. But it's a good thing to kuow how to set aud reset a lock." Jeff was iu auother part of the house when the Luphiinis were puzzled, but he knew how it was. Even the lock seemed to eujoy it as they tried to make it once more remember its old numbers. "It's au awful riddle, Steve," groaned old Jacob; "but we can't get iu." That, alas for them, meant that their plot had failed, and thut they must get out. Ouly a few weeks later Jefferson Meredith was slowly, thoughtfully turning a plain gold ring upou oue of Mrs. Madeleiue Mert'lith's lingers. "I feel so safe now," she said; "and it is what mother would have wished.' "Madeleine," he answered her,' "there are some combinations of which ouly God knows tho secret. This is oue of them, and it is locked forever." McC.'s Monthly. A l'hy.lclau'. faraili... A place for iihysicians to emigrate to is the city of llumuh, south of Aleppo. Though it coutuius 60,000 in habitants, among whom diseases of the eye, iu particular, are rampaut, there is not a single physician iu the city. THE MERRY SIDE OF LIFE. STORIES TOLD BY THE FUNNY MEN OF THE PRESS. Out of flare A Had Mint Tie TVns Over looked The rrerloiis Innocent Not Excited .fudging by the Sound Didn't Want to lie If nrrted Kefnriiilng, Etc. He had faced some angry mobs, he had spoken from the stump; He bad been upon the pl.it form, too; But lie lost bis nerve anil blushed and felt like a silly chump When biswlfeytook dim trailing through Tho big department stores that were crowded to the doors With women who appeared to think that be Hud pushed himself into where everybody knew I modest, manly man should never, never be. V. nshington Star. A Unci Mint. Ethel "Why does lightning never striko twice in the snme place?" Dick "Cau't find the place." Yellow Book. The Precious Innocent. -He "Do you think there is really any danger in kissing?" She "Wait till I go on tho stairs and listen to find out whether papa is asleep or not." Didn't Want to II. Hurried. Lena "Why are you in such n hurry for Jack to propose?" Edith "I want to have plenty of time to think the matter over before accepting him." lie Wal Overlooked. Ziggs (slapping his friend on the back) "Well, it's Bettled, old man; the cards are out. " Zaggs (who didn't get oue) "Did they run out?" Detroit Journal. Judging by the Sound. Mrs. Grady "O, Pat! 01 t'iuk tho baby 's got somcthin' iu his t'roat!" Mr. Grady "So do Oi, bogorrah! And Oi'm t'inkin' it's either n fog horn or a locomotive phwhiutlo!" Puck. Not Excited. "I hear," said the zephyr, "that yon have been raging through tho Northwest." "Never was a worse mistake," howled the blizzard. "I was quite cool." Indianapolis Journal. How Hlie Tells Time In the Dark. "My wife can tell what time it is in the middle of the night when it is pitch dark?" "How does she do it?" "She makes me get up and look at the clock." Chicago Record. A Matter of Conjecture. She "She feels hurt because she has heard that you said she was no chicken." He "Oh! I wonder if the average young lady would consider it a com pliment to bo called chicken?" Puck. Not Necessary, "I suppose," said the village deacon to the minister, "that your constant prayer is that you may ever be poor and humble?" "Not exactly," replied the minister. "I pray that I may remain humble, but my congregation attends to tho other part of it." Chicago News. lCefariiilng. "Your money or your life!" shouted the footpad. "I have no money," said the vic tim, "aud my life will be of no use to you." "I don't know about that," re plied the footpad. "I have been thinking for some timeof trying a new life." Philadelphia North American, Just llefore the Kllgugeinent. "I see they hare a machine now for photographing one's thought's," he said for waut of something better to say. "I wish you could photograph mine," she returned. "Why?" he asked. "Possibly it would encourage you a little," she answered. Shortly thereafter it was decided that he should "see papa" just as soon as he could muster up sullicieut cour age. Chicago Post. Coiffure. "You love me not!" she cried pet ulantly. "Don't suy that!" ho urged in a pained way. "But it is true!" she retorted de fiantly. "Yes," he admitted. "Aha!" she exclaimed. "Yes, it's true," he continued, as he caressed the Psycho arrangement of her hair. "I do love it, and it's very becom ing to you, but 'me knot' iH such hor rible grammar, you kuow," New York Journal. I'tHijile Wlio Never l.'ndress. "Whatever are you crying for now, Johnny?" asked his mother. "I dou't see why a boy should shed tears because he bus to go into a warm bed this cold weather," "It's so cold to undress," blub bered Johnny. "1 wish I was like some people us don't have to undress. I'll joiu a society." "Don't be foolish! Everybody has to undress to go to bed. You cau't join a society to escape undressing. You dou't want to be a savage, do you?" "You cau join a society w here you dou't have to undress sometimes," persisted Johnny. "1 should like to Jii'iil' about that society," observed his mother, amused. "I don't know any member of it." "Yes, you do," whimpered the boy. "Every time dad goes to the lodge ho gets in bed without undressing, 'cos I've seed him in the morning." He hud to sleep iu the dark 113 a punishment. Pearson's We.;klv. vvlri 1 ER. Merry, though the moon shines pals And the wind-tossed brandies wall; Turcot crystals float and fall; There they spnrklc, Here thev darkle. On the plno and lonely wall. Merry, though the stream Is still 'Seat li the cold nnd trackless hill; There tho realms of Helper glow; Twillclit lingers, Hhlnltig lingers (lild the sleeping fields of snow. Gcnessci liteliardson, iu Woman's Horns CumpHubm. HUMOR OF THE DAY. It is very seldonut'iat wc serionsly regret anything we didn't say. Life. When a woman runs it is a mean man who will use his camera. Somer villo Journal. Judge "Why did you steal the com pluinant's turkeys?'' I'risoner "Ha had no chickens, your Honor." De troit Journal. She "Why is it called the 'silver moon?'" He "Because it comes in halves and quarters, I Biippose." Chicago News. Bacon "And bo's kind-hearted, is he?" Egbert "Kind-hearted? Why, I don't believe ho ever snid an unkind word, even to an alarm clock!" "What would you do if you had only ton cents in the world, Kitty?" "I would buy caramels with it to raise my spirits. " Chicago Record. Doubtful: Spendley "Well, jf my money should go, dearest, you'd still have me!" Mrs. Spendley "Don't you be too sure about that!" Puck. Instruction: Johnny "And does the gasmeter measure the quantity of gas you use?" Papa "No, my eon; the quantity you have to pay for."- Puck. "Ma, is there any pie left in tha pantry?" "There is one piece, but you cau't have it." "You aro mis taken, ma, I'vo had it." Cleveland Plain Dealer. "He told me to get off the earth. What do you suppose he meant?" "He seemed to think that you needed n bath, evidently," Louisville Courier-Journal. "You may fetter my body," he shouted, "but my mind will wear no chain!" In other words, the wheel in his head was of the '98 pattern. Indianapolis Journal. Customer (in restaurant) "This beefsteak must bo at least three weeks old, isn't it?" Waiter "Don't know, sah; I'se only been heah two weeks, sah." Chicago News. Ilaggs "Suy, do you bolieve that story of the gooso layiug tho golden egg?" Jaggs "Well, it would bo just like a goose to do such a foolish, thiug. " Chicago News. Slopcr (as Miss Eastlake, his in tended, finishes 11 solo) "What n voice!" Duncan (who has been re jected by Miss Eastlake) "Yes, what a voice!" Harlem Life. A North of Englaud paper says: "We have adopted the eight-hour system iu this ofiice. Wo commouce work at 8 o'clock in tho morniug and close at 8 in the eveuiug." Tit-Bits. Matilda "Have you spoken to papa?" Bertie "Yes; I asked him through tho telephone and he an swered: 'I don't know who you are, but it's all right."' Pick-Me-Up. Not NeiKasttiily : Walter "So Bilker rents that forty-dollar-a-uiouth house of yours, does he? He pays too much rout." Landlord (sighing) "You dou't know him." Puck. "Men's promises," tho youug wife said between sobs, ' are like pie-crust " "That's tough," said the young husband, mil then she got angry enough to cry. Indianapolis Journal. The Klondiker who returns with $100 ) iu gold dust usually estimates the claim left, behind at $r00,000. It is well to keep these assets in a sep arate class. St. Louis tllobe-Detno-crat. Bride "Counting your change, George? It has beeu au expensive trip, hasn't it?" George "That's right. It looks as it this honeymoon would soon be oil" its last quarter." Puck. Rapturous Youth "Darling, my salary is $J0 a week. Do you think you could live on that?" His Af fianced "Why, yes, Gdorge, I can get along ou that. But whnt'll you live on?" Chicago Tribune. Bingham "Bonner is so aggravat ingly self-possessed." Rawlins "Yes. Ho could wear a checked golf suit at a wedding and cany himself as though tho groom was a mere caddy." Philadelphia North American. "I have been complimented a great many times on my stage presence," said tho amateur with a disposition to monopolize things. "Yes," replied tho weary manager, "you're all right on thut point. What you waul to cul tivate now is nu occasional Btugo ab sence." Washington Star. Bobbins "Wi. a iu the world does Hardy I'pton mean by wearing a win ter overcoat und u summer suit?" Dobbins "Why, a report got around that he had to soak his summer suil before ho ot his winter overcoat out. Hardy is trying to prove that the re port is uufoiiu led." Puck. "Colonel Blood," suys tho current issue of the Weekly Battle Ax, "bus culled at this ottice and demanded a retraction of our remark that he was a famous liar. We retract cheerfully and fully, und do so by hereby stutiug thut the esteeni 'd c ilonel ia au iu fumous liar. " Indianapolis Journal. Clarence "(leueviovc, why will you uot hear me? Can't you see thut 1 am dyiug for your love? Tell me, tell me that you will" Genevieve (interrupting) "Oh, please go away und come some oilier lime wheu I'm not busy. Can't you sco that I'm right iu tho middle of this murder cuso?" L'leveluuJ Lea l.T.