lie Forest Republican I published every Wednos Jay, by J. E. WENK. Office In Smearbaugh ft Co.'i Building ELM STREET, TIONESTA, PA. Termi. - fJl.QO Per Year, I?o -subscription received for a shorter period than three months. OorrMpondenotoliolteJ from all parts of the) country. No notice will be taken of anonymous oomiminio.illons. - RATES OF ADVERTISING l One Square, one inch, one insertlm..! t 00 One rqusre, one inch, on month. . (in (ine quare. one inch, tlir mnth. . ft ( One fqunra, one inch, one ear..... 10 III '1 wo Squares, one ye-ir WiO Quarter Column, one yew , 8 I '"I Half Column, one ye-ir....... VIUO One Column, one yp 100 110 1-ees.l svlTertisuments ten cent! p.r line each insertion. Alarriaires and detth notices, gratis. All bills lor yearly advertisement" collected quarterly Temporary advertisement mutt be paid in advenes. Job worlc-Muih on delivery. ton PUBLICAN, VOL. XXX. NO. 43. TIONESTA. PA.. WEDNESDAY, FEB. ), 1898. S1.00 PEll ANNUM. EST Five nun. lied nua tuirty million bushels is the official estimate of the United States wheat crop for 1897. New York claims to be growing healthier. The death rate has de creased six aud a half per cent, since 1891. Tho Pennsylvonia Baukers' Associa tion has voted to organize a chapter of the association, whose purpose shnll 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, speaking 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 'foeling. lie considers it another link in 'the long chain of international courtesies exchanged in Arctio explor- - ation. It 1b thought that the influence of the French language, with its unas pirated h, is the primary cause of that letter being so much ignored by Eng lish people. French having been spoken so long in England and the people near the coast having come in contact continually with that lan guage, nn indelible impression, it is paid, is left upon it, increased now by nsa8e- : According to the Chief of the Penn sylvania State Bureau of RnilronuJ, the bicycle is hurting the business of the railroads. He says: "In cities like Hairisburg 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 an 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 iu the v evening. During that time 6078 per sons passed a given point, 1962 in the cars and 4116 on bicycles; 67 7-10 per cent, on bicycles and 82 8-10 per cent. on the cars, or more than two to one in favor of the wheel." Says the Philadelphia Record 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 bofore an educa tional body in the same city on "Mor ality in the Publio Schools," made tho declaration: "There is duuger of the managers of a great machine taking more pride in the machine aud its workings than in the results it turns out. Thin is the danger in our publio schools. " These words will, of course, be resented as the views of pessimists; yet they come from men qualified to speak as publio teachers, and com , ing simultaneously they gain an eui pbasis which must command atten tion. We are accustomed to flatter ourselves with the idea that our devel opment along material lines neces sarily involves a corresponding de velopceut along intellectual and moral linos. However that may be, the fact cau'uo longer be denied that the commercial iustinet is beginning to dominate almost every action of our people. Anent the agitation in the 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 an exporter of wheat flour and of corn. The flour exports began about 1760 and continued into the present century until cotton sup planted wheat. It is believed that much more flour was manufaoted iu the State one hundred years ago than now., although population aud re sources have multiplied many fold. century and a half ago com 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 in 1792. Not long thereafter corn became an article of import, aud some years ago was reported as "the largest' article of that character. WUat was done .with the soil of the State 100 vears aero, the Courier says, cau bo done again. In one country the grow ing and grindiug of wheat for local con sumption hus beeu undertake;!, aud other counties aro advised to follow the example. "We have proved by long aud stumbling experience," the Courier says, "thut cotton does no take the place of wheat as the 'stuff o life,' and thut no community cun thrive whose only manufacturing industry is that of giuuiuu the fibre for matke'.." tut ,iiAj;,5 If we bo blithe and warm at heart, If wo be sound and pure within, No sorrow shall aliido with us Longer than dwells the sin: Though autumn fogs the landscape Though autumn tempests roam, Our summer le not over yet We keep the sun at homo, I THE RIDDLE I ' II.V 'Wir.'L.IA.SI 7i HERE was upon his fac3 an intense, and even a comba tive look, as he stood in the wind swept piazza, with his hand upon the bell-pull. He seemed about to ring Rgain, when the door opened and he stepped quickly iu, while a graceful form re ceded timidly before him. A pair of moist, dark eyes and a troubled face were averted from his, and there was a husky tremor in the voice which said to him: "You mustn't come in, Jeff." "Madoleine," he bluntly exclaimed, "what does this mean?" "Mr. Lapbam! Steve Laphaml" "Old Jacob Lapham's only your stepfather. He has no authority over you. llis son is a traud! xour mother "Oh, Jeff, dear! that is the trouble! They have made her forbid me to speak to you! I cannot disobey her! She is dying! They have almost made ber make me promise. Oh, Jeff, dear, I'm almost crazy!" I should say you were, he growled, with a fierce light dancing across his face. "It was time for me to come. Is your mother really bo low?" "She may last many days yet; per haps not twenty-four hours. Stephen Lapham isn't there, but his father doesn't leave her for a minute. I've no chance to Bee her alone. She com manded me not to speak to you." No, she didn't," said Jeff. "She only repeated something after old Jake Lapham. What she was forced to say was no command of hers. Do be reasonable. She hat no right to do it, anyhow; and she really didu't do it. Old Jake did. As for Steve,-the young " "Don't I know what he is?" said Madeleine, hysterically. "Didn't I hear what his father said to him? They didn't know I heard " "What did they say?" demanded Jeff, as she hesitated, and 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 Madeleiue, "IVfi T.onliani anid fn KIava tbnf aa soon as mother died they would re cord all tho deeds, before proving the will, aud then they would own every dollar of the property. He said they could make me do what they pleased then." "What deeds?" he asked, iu a firm but unexcited way, that seemed to help her. "Deeds that mother made,", she said. "Deeds and things that give them everything there is to give." "Did yon 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 Jhey 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 safe in the library." "I know where it is," said Jeff. "It's your own safe pow. It opens with a combination 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 aud the days of the week." "Oh!" exclaimed Jeff, with almost a laugh; "that's a riddle. Is anybody in the library now?" "No," said Madeleine. "Nobody goes there." Jeff's face was angry and 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 size, stood iu one corner, and in an in stant the young man was kneeling be fore it. "This is your safe, Madeleiue Lane," he said. "May I open it?" "You may, but you can't," she re plied; but his hand was on the kuob of the safe-lock, and her cheeks burned with feverish excitement as she watched the quick, though care fill, turns of his wrist. "Twice this way," "Three times that way. again or was it twice? Just theu she heard she counted. Once around faint click, and she saw the door of the sufe swing wide open. It was as if a feat of neorotnaucy had been performed be fore her eyes. Those of Jeff were seurching the interior of the sufe "Here they ure!" he exclaimed, as he pulled out of a pigeon-hole a package of long-folded, legul-lookiug documents, aud rose to his feet. "Please exuniine them with me, Made leine. " "This first lot," he said, turning iheui over, "are all deeds, of one sort Or I. it. But If our heart be void and cold. De euro no (rood will live therein, , But sorrow for the sorrow's sake, And sin because of sin; fold, And aye the dropping of the leaf. And aye tho fulling of the snow. And aye the barren, barreu earth Though summer winds do blow. -Edward Wilbur Mason, In Youth's Companion, OF A LOCK. 1 I O. HTODDAIir, or another, to your own father, two or three to your mother, bv which thev 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 these! All of them new deeds. You and your mother to Jacob Lapham. xou and she did actually sign them all." "I didn't know what I was signing," gasped Madoleine, "But there were witnesses and a notary." "Each deed acknowledges a large sum of mouey actually paid, and here are the mortgages, bonds, notes, that old Jake Lapham paid that money out for." - "There never were any mortgages," huiu iuaucioine, out mose are my own signatures all of them." "They are dated as if they had been signed three 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 and 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 the same 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 and 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 aud removing the blower from the library-grote. "Oh, Jeff, you dare not!" exclaimed Madeleine, "you must notU 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 up 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 mouey. It is right where he can get it. Dou't yon think it ought to be iu a safer place?"J "It must be mine!" she exclaimed. "It can't be his! He hasn't anything. He meant to steul 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 isn't safe enough. You are going to put your money into the Compton National Bank. Fifteeu thousand dollars and more. All that old Jacob Laphuin has stolen during several years, except what Steve has wasted; one way or another." "Put it into the bauk for me, Jeff," said Madeleiue. "I dare not, and I cannot bear to leave the house." H'TH put the will right back where I found it," he said, as he did so. "They all saw it deposited here?" "Yes," replied Madeleine. "Uncle Wickham aud the witnesses came down and saw it put away there." "That's where they will find it, then, when they come to look for it," said Jell', 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 unconcernedly out of the house, as if nothing extraordin ary had happened. Madeleiue, on the other hand, after closing the door be hind him, went slowly and thought fully upstairs. A door at her right oponod at that moment, and a tail, grim-looking woman stood iu it. "How is mother?" asked Madeleine. "Is Mr. Lapham there?" "He is asleep just now," said the nurse. "She has not stirred or Bpoken." Madeleine walked past her iuto the room, and bent ubove an emaciated form lying upon the bed. The face was placid, but there could be no misuuderstauding of tho mes sage it conveyed. "Oh, if I could but speak to her!" thought Madeleiue, while her whole frame shook aud her own face grew as white as was thut upon which she was gazing, aud then a faint whisper broke through her hps: "Mother!" A pair of blue eyes opened languid ly, and the nurse now at the window, did not hear as acutely as did Made leine: I "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. lie sent his love to you." ' ...vo u:m tiy love, uear. iiy son! It is easier to leave you with him " Just then the nurse turned sudden ly from the window, aud a burly form which had laiu upon a sofa near it sprang vigorously to its feet and strode to the bedside. "Madeleine Lane! how dare yon? She must not talk! Have I not for bidden this sort of thiug?" "She is my mother, Mr. Lapham, and you are not my father," said Madeleine, resolutely. "But I think 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, nud 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 beeu rapid, and his first visit was made at the bank. 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 awaro that you and Deacon Morris are executors of her mother's will "I had an idea, from herself, that I was to be one of them " "And the wishes you to be ready to act at once. She is not upon good terms with old Jake and Steve." "Ugh!" exclaimed the old lawyer. "Tell 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 the steps: "Oh, but don t I wish I could see old Jake and Steve at work on that safe!" Madeleine reached her room again unobserved, all the more Bafely be cause her stepfather was crouching before that 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: "Well! If I can't open it, nobody else can. sometimes 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 nnd clinches the deeds." Madeleine lingered iu her 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 npon the bed lay very still, but the 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 mo, Madeleine, There there good-by. " There was a heavy baud upon Mad eleine's shoulder, as she rose, but she did not turn her fixed gaze from her mother's face. "What does she mean?" be 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 sauk npon her knees for they were all suddenly aware that the last messenger had come. For Madeleine Laue 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 look of the safe iu the library. The knob of it was twisted and twisted in the most weari some way. "Steve," remarked an anxious voice, at last, "we must have that money out! The deeds aud mortgages must be recorded! Only 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 the 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 to do, for he was a bereaved man, with more than one grief to carry. The lock of the safo hud much twisting to endure, but it still refused to remember its num bers. Judge Wickham came in, and Mr. Lapham began to say something to him about the sufe aud its contents, aud its conduct. "Pooh, pooh, Jacob!" responded the old lawyer; "you are in no oonditiou 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 aud another i day came, aud at the hour appointed Intra were cm t.v;rs at tue door, x hero was no occasion for remark, however, when the mourners came out of the house, in the fact that Madeleine 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 Btopfnther and stepbrother did not like it, that was not the time for them to say so, or to employ author it v. The house was regained and was re entered by tho family party, Bnd no body else seemed to notice that Judgo Wickham went in lust, and that, as ho did so, he took the key out of the door and put it iu his pocket. "Wickham," rs-ul Mr. Lapham, 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, placidly. "You've been too agitated, too nervous " "We'll have to havo it blown open," said Mr. Lnphain; "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. "Romnrk able!" "There's the will," said Judge Wick ham, calmly, as ho sunt a long arm in and pulled out a paper lyiug iu full view. The eyes of Jacob Lapham were frantically se.i'vhing tho iuterior of tho big iron e: for something which they did not seem to find. That is all. All correct, continuod Judge Wickham. "Deacon Morris aud I are executors. Everything goes to Madeleiue! 1 11 take possession at once. That is, I'll leave her in full possession." "Give me that paper!" roared Jacob Lapham. "It isn't tho will!" "Yes, it is!" replied the judgo. "I know the signatures. I saw it put there. I was here. It's all right, Jacob." "There's another will! The safo has been robbed! Money missing! Papers misBing! 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 Laue is '.iu possession. She is absolute, unquestionable owner. You and Steve must got" 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, although she remarked: "If Stephen were a gentleman he 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 ouce. All that belongs to you has been put into your own room." "Come upstairs," Steve," said hie father; and as soon as they wero iu Steve's room, he added: "Wickham is coing out to fii.d Morris. As soon as he is gone we will search that safe." "We'll clean it out, too," said Steve. Hardly had thoy 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 ouce more ho worried the lock of the safe a little. "Is it all right, Jeff?" asked Judge Wickham. "Am not I to know the new combination? Can't you explain it to me?" "Simplest thiug in the world," said Jeff "Lots of people remember their safo 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 nie." "Why," said Jeff, "don't you see it? The year, 1776. The days, 7. Di vide so 17 7 76. to get your three numbers. Twist the kuob the usual way. That did it." "How is it now?" asked the lawyer. "All iudependeuce and freedom," said Jeff. "It is 172176, aud that's what'U puzzle old Jacob when he comes dowu stairs. But it's a good thiug to kuow bow to set aud reset a lock." Jeff was iu another part of the house wheu the Laphitui were puzzled, but he knew how it was. Even the lock seemed to enjoy it os they tried to tuuke it onee more remember its old numbers. "It's an awful riddle, Steve," groaned old Janob; "but we can't get in." That, alas for them, meant thut their plot had failed, and thut they must get out . Only a few weeks later Jefferson Meredith was slowly, thoughtfully turning a pluiu gold ring upon oue of Mrs. Madeleiue MertTlith's fingers. "I feel so sufe now," she said; "and it is what mother would have wished.' "Madeleine," he answered her,' "there are some combinations of which only God knows tho secret. This is one of them, ami it is locked forever." MoC.'s Monthly. A riiyslciau'e Paradise. A place for physicians to emigrate to is the city of llamuh, south of Aleppo. Though it contains 60,000 in hubituuts, among whom diseases of the eye, iu particular, are rampant, there is not a single physician iu the city. THE MERRY SIDE OF LIFE. STORIES TOLD BY 1 HE FUNNY MEN OF THE PRESS. tint fr l'laee A Red Shot Tie Wns Over look1 Tlie rrerlous 1 nnorrnt Not Fuelled .litctglni; by the Ronml Dhln't Want to lie Hurried Itrfoniiliio;, Etc. llrt had faced some angry mobs, ha hnd spoken from the stump; He had been npon the pint form too; But he lost bis nerve anil blushed and felt like a silly chump When his wlfey took ill in trnlltng through Tho biff department stores that wore crowded to the doors With women who appeared to think that hn Hnd pushed himself into where everybody knew K modest, manly man should never, never be. 7. nshlngton Star. A Hint Shot. Ethel "Why does lightning never striko twice in tho some place?" Dick "Can't find the place." Yellow Book. The Precious Innocent. Ke "Do yon think there is rcolly any danger in kissing?" She "Wait till I go on tho stairs aud listen to find out whether papa is asleep or not." Illdn't Want to Ite Hurried, Lena "Why are you in such a hurry for Jack to propose?" Edith "I want to havo plenty of time to think the matter over before accepting him." lis Waa Overlooked. Ziggs (slapping his friend on the back) "Well, it's settled, 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! Ol fiuk tho baby 's got somcthin' in his t'roat!" Mr. Grady "So do Oi, bogorrnh! And Oi'm t'inkin' it's either n fog horn or a locomotive phwhititle!" 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 She Tell Time in the Dark. "My wife can toll what time it is iu 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, "thnt your constant prayer is thnt you may ever bo poor and humble?" "Not exactly," replied tho minister. "I pray that 1 may remain humble, but my cougregntiou attends to the other part of it." Chicago News. Iteforttilns;, "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 tho footpad. "I have been thinking for some time of trying a new life." Philadelphia North American. Just llefore the KoKHgeiiieul. "I see they have a machine now for photographing one's thought's," he said for want 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 l'ost. Coiffure. "You love me not!" she cried pet uluutly. "Dou't suy that!" ho urged in a pained way. "But it is true!" she retorted do fiautly. "Yes," he admitted. "Aha!" she exclaimed. "Yes, it's true," he continued, as he caressed the Psyche urruugeuient of her hair. "I do love it, and it's very becom ing to you, but 'me knot' is such hor rible grammar, you know." New York Journal. leoplo Who Never t'nttress. 'Whatever are you crying for now, Johnny?" asked his mother. "1 don't see why a boy should shed tears because he has to go into a wurm bed this cohl weather." "It's so cold to undress," blub bered Johnny. "1 wish I was like some people us dou't huve to undress. I'll join a society." "Dou't be foolish! Everybody has to uudress to go to bed. You can't join a society to escape undressing. You dou't wunt to bo a savage, do you?" "You cun join a society where you don't huve to undress bometiines," persisted Johnny. "I should like to Jienr uliout that society," observed his mother, amused. "I dou't kuow uny uiumber of it." "Yes, you do," whimpered the boy. "Every time dud goes to the lodge ho gets iu bed without undressing, 'cos I've seed him in the morning. " He hud to sleep iu the dark uu a punishment. Pearson's We.iklv. W.rilER. Merry, thnujfh the moon shines pale And the wlud-tnsscd branches wall; Purest crystals llnnt ami fall; There they spnrkle, Hero they darkle. On tho pine and' lonely wall. Merrv. though the stream Is still 'Neath the old nnd trackless hill: There the realms of Hesper kIowt Twilight lingers, Hhinlng lingers fllld the sleeping tlelds of snow. (tenesmi Itlt'liardsou, in Womau't Homo Conipnuiou. HUMOR OF THE DAY. It is very seldom, that we seriously regret anything wo didu't say. Life. When a woman runs it is a mean man who will use his camera. Somer villo Journal. Judge "Why did yon steal the com plainant's turkeys?'' Prisoner "Hfl hnd no chickens, your Honor." De troit Journal. She "Why is it called the 'silver moon?' " Ho "Because it comes in halves and quarters, I suppose." Chicago News. Bacon "And bo's kind-hearted, is he?" Egbert "Kind-hearted? Why, I dou't belinvo ho ever said an unkind word, even to an alarm clock!" "What would yon do if you had only ten cents in the world, Kitty?" "I would buy caramels with it to raise my sjiirits." Chicago Record. Doubtful: Spendley "Well, if 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 Bon; the quantity you have to pay for."- Puck. "Ma, is there any pie left in the pantry?" "There is one piece, but you cnu't have it." "You are mis taken, mn, I've hal it." Cleveland Plain Dealer. "IIo told mo to get off the earth. What do you suppose he meant?" "He seemed to think thnt you needed a bath, evidently." Louisville Courier-Journal. "Yon may fetter my body," he shouted, "but my mind will wear no chain!" In other words, the wheel iu his head was of the '98 pattern. Indianapolis Journal. Customer (in restaurant) "This beefsteak must bo at leost three weeks old, isn't it?" Waiter"Dou't kuow, sah; I'Be only beeu heah two weeks, sail." Chicago News. Iiaggs "Say, do you bolieve that story of the gooso laying tho golden egg?" Jaggs "We'll, it would be just like a goose to do such a foolish thing." Chicago News. Sloper (as Miss Eustluko, his in tended, finishes a solo) --"What a voice!" Duncan (who hus been re jected by Miss Eustluko) "Yes, what a voice!" Ilurlein Life. A North of Engiaud paper says : "We have adopted the eight-hour system in this ollice. Wo commence work at 8 o'clock in tho morning and close at 8 in the evening." Tit-Bits. Matilda "Have you Bpoken to papa?" Bertie "Yes; I itskod him through tho telephone nnd he an swered: 'I don't know who you are, but it's all right.' " Pick-Me-Up. Not Net!ssurily: Walter "So Bilker rents thnt forty-dollur-a-iuonth house of yours, does he? He pays too much rent." Landlord (sighing) "You dou't know him." Puck. "Men's promises," the young wife said betweeu Bobs, ' tiro like pie-crutt " "That's tough," said tho young husband, un I then she got angry enough to cry. Indianapolis Journal. Tho Kloudiker who returns with JflUt) 1 in gold dust usually estimates the claim left behind nt $r00,000. It is well to keep these tts.iets iu a sep arate class. St. Louis Globe-Demo-crat. Bride "Couuting your change, George? It hus been atl expensive trip, hasn't it?" George "That's right. It looks as if this honeymoon would soon be oil' its last quarter." Puck. Rapturous Youth "Dulling, my sulary is $'.!0 a week. Do you think you could live on that?" His Af fianced "Why, yes, Gdorge, I can get along on thnt. But what'U you live on?" Chicago Tribune. Bingham "Bouner is so aggravut ingly self-possessed." Rawlins "Yes. Ho could wear a checked golf suit at u wedding mid cany himself us though tho groom was a mere caddy." Philadelphia North American. "I havo beeu complimented a great many times ou my stage presence," said the amateur with a disposition to monopolize things. "Yes," replied the weory mauuger, "you're till right on that point. What you want to cul tivate now is nn occasional stage absence."- Washington Star. Bobbins "Wi. a in the world does Ilutdy I'ptoii mean by wearing a win ter overcoat und a summer suit?" Dobbins "Why, a report got around that ho had to soak his summer suit, before ho got his winter overcoat out. Hardy is trying to prove that the re port is uufouuded." Puck. "Colonel Blood," says the current issue of too Weekly Baltic Ax, "has called lit this ollice and demanded a retraction of our remark thut ho was a famous liar. We retract cheerfully und fully, uud do so by hereby slating that the esteemed c.ilouel is uu iu fumoiis liar." Indianapolis Journal. Clarence "(leuevim e, why will you not hear me? Can't you hcb that 1 nm dying for your love? Tell me, tell mo that you will" Gauovieve (interrupting) "tti, please go away uud come some nlher limn when I'm not busy. Can't you seo that I'm right iu the middle of this murder case?" Clevcluui Lea I. v.