THE PICNIC SEASON. OFFERS MANY ADVANTAGES IN A SOCIAL WAY. PlrnlrA Are Tlrropnlinl an Promotive of Love-Making—The Mont Direct Way to a Blan'ft Heart—Mistaken Enterprise at Plc nlos—Some Ludlerous Features. Picnics and Pleasure. /pT]OME crusty old lit ff Kerary bachelor says he can understand Vw/ / Ivf yhow people can go t geologizing, or botanizing, or col- IA i IWI \ lecting Bnells, or //yL'vja 1 \ hugs, or worms, but yjLaTrlJggA how they can go A out ' nto 'ho woods VA simply for tho pur pose of eat In# somo thing they have ta 'them passes all oomprehens ion. Such a declaration as this, however, exhibits not the sarcasm and ill-nature only, but also the impenetrable lgnor oneo of him who uttored it, for it is at once plainly evident that he entirely misconceives tho object of the pic nic. Tho picnic was not con ceived for the purpose of eat ing; were this the ease, it would be a lamentable failure. The eating at the picnio is an entirely subordinate part of the performance, and merely accessory to the real business of the ex pedition, which is love-making. It is true that it is an accessory of some im portance; for, as everybody knows, the way to a man's hoart is straight down his throat, and the lady whose dain ties aro most savory stunds tho host chance of attention both during the meal and afterward, for the open uir sharpens the appelite of even the most devoted lover, and lovers, like other people, appreciate a good thing in tho culinary line whenever it is commended to thefr attention. Careful reflection JTTST OUTSIDE THE GROUNDS. bestowed on this axiomatic statement, th Globe-Democrat, may feerve to clei. v several dark points in sociol ogy, and among them the fact that both at picnics and elsewhere the widow is more attractive than the young girl. The power of the widow is so well known as to need no demon stration. it is everywhere recognized. A widow will come into a cummunity and at the very first picnic will take her choice of young men despite the most earnest efforts of all the young girls present, llor sucogrr is duo in no small measure to a knowledge of the fact that a well-fed man Is always in a good humor and disposed to regard the feeder ns a benefactor. The widow knows how to do the feeding, hence her prominonce. Speaking of the eating, however, few people ever saw a picnic at which from 25 to 50 per cent, of the viands were not rendered unsightly if not un eatable by carelessness in transporta tion. The baskets are crowded into a wagon, often piled on top of each other, some are unset, others have their con tents tossed upside down, and cake and sandwiches, sugar and salt, custards and broad are hopelessly intermixed. A hard-boiled egg, by some mysterious mischance, finds its way into the mid dle of a pie; a pot of mustard omptios its tingling contents over the squares of dainty sponge cake; the neck of the champagne bottle is prematurely bro ken, and a dozen disasters of this na ture, combined with the unwelcome Sresence of ants, spiders and flies, ren er the eating a thing to bo hurried over as soon as possible. Not so the love making. From the time the pairs of happy lovers climb on the cars or squeeze into the crowded wagons that are to bear them to the •lysian fields, the billing and the cooing FWIN ;ISQ THB TLI'MP r.r.Al Tf. go steadily on until the falling shadows put an end to tho excursion. Thorn is a pleasing absence of restraint that en ables the lover to make more progrers during one day than otherwise no would he able to attain during weeks of calls, theater, opera and balls, and many a pair comparatively indifferent to each other have go no to a picnic and re turned home firmly set in the resolve to enter as soon as possible on the miseries of matrimony. As a rule, lovers are not particularly sensitive to tho opin-; lens of their fellow human beings. If they wore, the number of marriages would fall off 50 per cent. In a single year. If they were in tho least dis turbed by the whisperings, the grin nings, the nudgings. the glances of merriment that continually go on about thorn, men and women' would shun courting as they would the plague. But all these things are nothing to them; if they are seen, they are not in the least regarded, for the lover has a hide like a rhinoceros to every thing but hh passion, and is not in the least disturbed by incidents or remark* that would drive other people wild. Particularly is this obtuseness to pub lic opinion visible at picnics. As soon as possible after arriving on the ground, tho company divides into couples, and, geared hUpsfully on logs or bowlders. they becomo tho objects of derision and the prey of seed-ticks without giving evidence of fooling by so much as a single g'ance of uneasiness or a solitary furtive scratch. They are happy and that is enough for thorn; the world may call them fools, and in sober moments they are not altogether sure but what the world was right; but what does it matter? Anybody has a right to be a fool at a picnic, and armed Dy this con soling reflection they are armor-plated against criticism. Tho picnic, Darticularly the largely attended Sunday-school or day-school picnic, is, therefore, an admirable place to study human nature, for thero hu man nature is found at its east 1 and con quently off its guard. The natural tondencios of men show themselves more fully than elsewhere, and it is possible, if anywhere, at a picnic to see what a man really is. There is the committeeman, with his badge show ing that ho is on the committee of amusements* or of lomonado. or order ' of procession, or music, or any one of a dozen other committees to do little things to contribute to tho success of ; the picnic. He Is thus a man of im portance for tho time being, and feels his responsibility. If a marshal, he has accoutered himself with a sash that would make the heart of a Zuia danco with envy. If on amusements he personally arrangos the contestants for the sack race and lays down the rules of the contest with a dignity that a judge of tho Derby might in vain strive to emulate. If in charge of the lemonade, he regards it as axiomatic that tho refreshing mixture would not bo properly manufactured unless he himself squeezed tho lemons, measured the sugar, and stirrod tho mixture in the barrel. He knows his businoss, too. To prepare himself for this im portant function ho bought a barton* aor's comploto guide and carefully studied those sections which treat ot the various varieties of lemonade, and is prepared to give chapter and verse to any doubter who may suspect that too much sugar or not enough lemona have boon employed. Ho knows his businoss, he does, and while ho is stir ring the lemonade und exposing the knots in his suspenders it is not safe to meddle with him. Not loss important, however, are the members of several other committees who are commonly self-appointed. The committee on swings lias generally the pleasantest job of the picnic: for, after having, at the peril of their lives, urrangod the swing in a proper place, cut off a limb or two that interfered with the movement, and pullod the rope ui> an d down until the Boat was just right, it is theirs to invito the young ladies to be swung. Seldom is tiio honor declined, for, al though the lady properly approached 011 the subject is morally certain that she will full out, arid in addition urges the consideration that swinging always makes her dizzy, the urgency of the inviters prevails, and with pretty littlo shrieks and squeals, and much and careful adjustment of her drapery about her feet, she gets hersolf in po sition and is duly swung, amid many prote.stations that the is going toe high, and that she knew she could not stand it. The misery of the swinging committee comes when a stout miss who is fond of swinging makes hor ap pearance and stands about, with perse vering patience, waiting to bo invited. The slim youths manipulating the swinging circle prolong their exertions with the petite beauty In hand as long as possible, keeping hor going far be yond her own desire in the hope that the big girl will go away. Vain is their expectation. She has come to bo swung, and by and by it becomes im possible to ignore her any longer. The slender youths take off their coats and settle down to the tusk with dumb res ignation, all of which is needed before slie becomes tired and requests them to "let the cat die." A' display tf enterprise is alway-9 pleasing, though when the enterprise is misdirected it has a comical aspect which often excites the risibilities In no small degree. The presence of a considerable number of persons as at a picnic generally attracts individuals ol the (-loss that lives by providing oheap and humble popu'ar amusements. How ever rigid the prejudices of the clorgy men and Sunday-school superintendent may bo against the canvas screen with the agile black load thrust through the silt, the owner of which stands prepared to dodge any number of base balls thrown at his cranium, the screen and Its appurtenances are almost sure to appear, the loud-voiced proprietor lustily commending the sport to world ly minded youth. Were there none such In the guthering the fat man with the loud voice and his hard-headed dusky assistant would lie forcod to go away In di gust, but hanging to the skirts of every Sunday-school there are always several young reprobates who have no ta-tu for Sunday-school singing, i who regard tho speeches by visiting 1 Sunday-school "workers" as a'bore, anl who slip away to try their luck at the 1 darky s head. So tlio darky generally has u busy time, and the fat proprietor reaps a harvest of nickels and dimes. Much more doprocatod, however, Is the presence of the operator who with his rack of canes, his bundle of rings and his keg of boor advertises his business in a set formula of words. "Walk up now, gents, and try your luck. Five rings for a nickel, and every time you ring a cane you get a glass of beer." Sometimes, mistaking the nature of tho entertainment, ho bobs up at a Sunday-school picnic, to the horror oi the preacher, superintendent and old ladies, who immediately take measures looking to his summary ejection. His is a case of mistaken enterprise, and he must suffer the consequences. Viewed strictly as a business propo sition, the picnic is an undoubted fail ure.. Purely from an economic point of view, it does not pay to run around in tho hot sun all day long in the effort to enjoy yourself; viewed from a socio logical standpoint, it is a brilliant suc cess, for, while statistics on tho subject are lacking, there is little doubt thnt. wore they available, thev would dem onstrate that of all the marriages in tho country no Inconsiderable propor tion have their beginnings at the picnic. THE OLDER USE—The happiest tltne in my life was when I was ap proaching womanhood. The other- Yes? But you always seem happiest when approaching manhood. GOVERNESS—How long Is it since Borne was founded? Little Fanny- Rome was founded 2,848 years ago. Aged Grandmother—Dear nic, how time does slip away.- j /■ \ A 1 b&t l/Meanlecl to tfo 1o aea— zaiik )l t oon uRTii T* soPi couldn't 3® tßat lie (jc d liRTc To smo\e (i *^ >o ffuoKtE a cidar Trorn KTa {ulfjr* des\, lie ojlerurard saTcl tome— 4 J f/ w/ifMl w " 11 Tod mv smoK? orf3 it -rnaßeme jtel I yW 05 f to seo " I Baby or Hoy. The youngest In our household Is Eammr. six yonrs oldj Ills cheeks are re Idest ro 3 es, Ills hair Is purest gold Wo often call him "baby." And "di.rling " " Icar." and "pet," And If he hadu'. s'o iped us We'd cad h m tbuse names yet. One evening when liN papa Was slttln? all nlone. The littlo fellow sought him Ai d made hl9 wishes known. I want to toll you something," He said, with serh u eyes, "I wish we ha l a bstby To papa's gre.it suiyrlso. "Well, I declare?" cried papa, "What niako- y u wish so, dear?" And littlo Fatnmy a iswcrod In accents calm und clear "I'iu tired of bain* 'darlln*,' And 'dear' I don't enjoy. I wish we had a baby 8o I could be a l>oy!" —Our Little Onca My <)11 Wife and I. —Our Little Onu ltahyklns nnrl Ills Friend. Babykins had a littlo friend that used to come to visit him once a week. It was the day of the week when the nursery was swept. Nursic would put the glass from the bureau down upon the floor whllo she wa> dust uk and putting things away, and then It was that this other little Babykins came. It was a dear little Babykins that had curly lialr waving all over its head. Babykins wou'd creep close to the glass, but never could touch the littlo visitor. One day Babykins thought he would creep around the glass and have a romp with the dear ■ Babykins who lived there. Oh, he I was so disappointed! What do you 1 suppose was there? Nothing at all but the back of the glass! Babykins made haste to creep back again to I llio front of the glass, and tlicro was I the visitor. Babykins played with | him until Nurse came and took the glass away. Then Babykins' little friend went for another week.—Baby land. A Little Doclhlou. One day a small boy entered a store. The merchant lookc d at him and asked, "Well, my little man, what will you have to-day?" "Oh, please, sir, mayn't I do some work for you to day?" "Do some work for me, eh? Well, what sort of work can a littlo chap I like you do? Why, you can't look over the counter." | "Oh, yes, I can; and I'm growing, plcrtHe. growing very fast; —there, uow, see if I can't look over the counter!" said the little fellow, raising himself on his tiptoes. The merchant smiled, and then came around the other strlc of the j counter. "I thought I should liavo to get a magnifying glass to seo you; but 1 reckon If 1 get c'ose enough 1 can tlnd what you look like." "Oh, I'm older than I'm high, sir," said the boy. "Folks say I'm small of my age. You see, sir, mother hasn't got anybody but me; and this morning I saw her crying because she eouldn' tlnd live cents in bar pocket book. She thinks the boy that took tho ashes stole It—and—l—haven't— had—any breakfast, sir." Then his voice choked, and his blue eyes were tilled with tears. "I reckon I can help you to some breakfast, my llttlo fellow," said the merchant, feeling In his vest pocket. "Here, will this quarter do?" The boy shook his head, saying: "Thank you, sir; but my mother wouldn't let me beg or take money unless I did something for it." "Indeed!" said the gentleman. "And where is your father?" "He went to sea in the steamer City of Boston. The vessel was lost, and wo never heard of htm aftor that." "Ah, that was sad! Hut you are a plucky little fellow, and I like you. Let me see." and then, after thinking a few-minutes, he called out to one of the clerks: "Saunders, Is tho rash boy, No. 4, still sick?" "He died last night, sir," was the reply. Alii I am sorry to hear that. Well, here is a little fellow that CUD take his place. What wages did No. 4 get?" "Four dollars a week, sir." "Well, put this boy down for $4 a week. Then, turning to the astonished boy, ho said: "There, my little fel low, go up to the clerk yonder and tell him your name and where you live, and then run home and tell your mother you've got a place at 4 a week. Come back on Monday morning and I'll tell you what to do. Here's a dollar in advance. I'll take it out of your first week's wages. Now go." Tommy darted out of the door like an arrow. How he rushed through the street! How nimbly he mounted tho creaking stairs that led to his mother's room! As soon as he en tered it he ran across the room, clap ping his hands, and jumping up and down, and crying out "Mother! mother! I've got a place at $4 a week. There Is the first dollar to get something to eat with. Anil don't you ever cry again, for I'm th mn of the house." 1 Bui Tommy's mother did cry then. And how cou'd she help it? She took tho little fellow In her arms, wept tears of toy over him, then kneeled down and thanked God foi giving her such a.treasure of ahoy. —Boston Traveller Not * True Story, There Is a funny lit le girl, who reads m# every day The most eurprlslng travels from a volume worn *nd gray, In lands whoro monkeys buy and soil, and talk, and go to school; And there aro lions, numerous as fishes in a p 01, And dreadful savage men who build great c'tlosoutof bones, And duarfs whose wod< are bits of most, their mountains pobble-stone*. Hut tho book In which she reads about theso travelers of renown Is tho Family Receipt Hook, and she hold* It up-ldo down. —Youth's Companion. Childish Chatter. SOME boys arc like clocks. They are going nil the time, but never get anywhere. "Is YOUR rarrot a bright bird?" "Oh, yes, aw fully bright, lie's yellow and light green." "ISN'T there a flsh called a skate, papa?" "Yos, ray lx>y." "Well, doci it come from the Worth l'ole, wlier. all the Ice is?" "WHY don't you take your little brother coasting. Arthur?" "'Cause he's so awfully little that ho cries 11 ho Isn't allowed to ride up hill, too.' CROSS Nuioitnon—Are you the boj that took my front gate off the < thei night? Oliver—N-no, sir; 'cause the gate's lots bigger than I am, and 1 couldn't li t It. ARTHUR—I wonder how it would do to have a game of base hall on the ice? Bert—l don't know; it would be easy enough, though, to slide to the bases.—Harper's Young Pcop e. "HAVE you got a collection of an? kind," asked Uncle Mark, "that 1 can help you with?" "Vos, sir," ro plied Ned; "I've got a collection ol United States coins in my bank, but nothing^argerthan a dime." THE fellow who Is always boasting how he itches for a fight seldom comet to the scratch.—Buffalo Courier. THE BEGGARS' PARADISE. NEW YORK A FERTILE FIELD FOR MENDICANT 3. It Is KstlmatedTlint Gotham Supports 5000 Professional Beggars—They Are Nearly All Frauds. 71 MONO the large cities of the /\ world there is said to be no more fertile field for the practice of mendicancy than New York City. Indeed, it is claimed for this city that it is the beggars' paradise; and the cause assigned is the credulity of those who give to beg gars, the disinclination in most peo ple to investigate begging cases that appeal to them, a distrustfulness that charity agencies will not help cases that are sent to them (and this is given as the chief element), and finally, in considerate lavishness in giving. Thus begging is very profitable. The sums so easily gained are not, however, ac cumulated, but in nearly every case the day's results are spent in drink and other formfc of vice. The number of beggars in the city to-day is estimated to be 5000. This number would quickly reach 20,000, those say who have the suppression of the evil in charge, were it not for the vigorous vigilance of charity investi gators and the police. Every New Yorker who walks much in the city's streets has met with the solitary and decrepit women on the curbstones, grinding whezy hurdy gurdies. They look forlorn enough to excite the sympathies of the hardest heart. They are all frauds, however, and come from that fruitful region of beggars the Neapolitan district of j Italy. They are licensed beggars, the | city lioensing them on the theory that they furnish the public with music. A I woman of this class who proved a re markable fraud used to sit on Four teenth street from eight o'clock until ten o'clock in the evening, even in the stormiest and coldest nights of winter. As she sat wheezing away, it seemed there could be no more decrepit crea ture than she. But it was noticed that when she arose to depart she was an able-bodied woman. Bhe was warned and finally arrested. In court an Ital ian swore that he knew her to be worth many thousands of dollars; she sent to Italy her accumulations acquired here. Bhe was sent up for six months. The abandonment of a profitable business for mendicancy is not often recorded, but a Twenty-third street fruit dealer made the change, and this in how he came to do so : On one oc casion he went down town to buy some goods and unwittingly spent all his money, which fact he did not dis cover until he had arrived at an ele vated railroad station. There he asked for and obtained from a gentleman a half-dollar. He secured this money so easily that it occurred to him it would be a good way to got more, and every time he went down town he solicited money on that plan. He finally sold his business, and began begging in good earnest, leaving daily a comforta ble home raggedly attired. After some time ho was arrested as a beggar and committed. He wrote a note to his wife, who came to court, a well dressed woman, with her well dressed daugh ter. Bhe confessed all. The beggars all make money. Some have been arrested who afterward paid SIOO to a lawyer to prevent being sent to prison. Beggars who are blind or crippled naturally make more than those less unfortunate. But the extra liberality for sweet charity's sake is but money thrown away. Nearly every one of this class of beggars is a spend thrift, and in addition, what is worse, dissolute. Every Sixth avenue shop ping woman will remember the sandy moustached blind man who used plaintively to sing on the avenue, holding out his open hand inapocnliar manner. He was suspected of being a fraud, and a charity officer deter mined to see what becamo of him. He was led about by his father, au able-bodied man. After some time the officer saw the two start for home. They first stopped in a saloon and had drinks. They then took the elevated cars and proceeded down-town ; on the train tho blind man counted out the money he had received from the shop ping women, putting it from the right pocket to tho left. He counted more thau sll. As he concluded his count he said : "There i 5511.35, dad. That's pretty good for two hours' work." The father grunted back: "Pretty good." They left the train at Twenty third street, still under the espionage of the charity officer. He saw them make a round of the saloons in tho neighborhood until 1 o'clock, paying up the scores of the week, and finally staggering home as drunk as they could be. The officer soon afterward ran across the blind singer again, and told him all he had observed. The beggar promised to reform, and ended the interview with the remark, "I knocked down on the old man; it was sl3 I collected that night." Many beggars work in organized gangs. These aro the ones who go out of the city in summer robbing country stores and postofficcs. They have boys with them whom they teach their evil | practices. All sorts of devises are used in beg | ging. Borne of them are cleverly I managed. A tall man was once found begging, alleging a broken arm. This was found to be a fraud, but the arm was done up as skilfully as though done by a physician. When accosted he said, "I acknowledge I am a fraud." , Concealed about his person was found, . to bo used when occasion required, a I sign which read, "Deaf and dumb. Charity, if you please." Mendicancy long persisted in be comes chronic, and cures are affected only rarely. Only one successful case is on record, and that may yet prove I vain. A gentleman met a street beg ger in whom he recognized a former faithful employe of his fother. The ease was put into the hands of a so ciety, and money was left to work his correction if possible. It appeared that ho had learned to beg from being employed as clerk of a Bowery lodg ing-house, where he saw the success of beggars. Ho had begged five years when he was recognized. He has been placed at work and given a good job, but he can easily earn twice as much a day by begging than what he is now receiving.—New York Post. WISE WORDS. A doubt is the heaviest thing man ever tried to lift. Cheerfulness is health; its opposite, melancholy, is disease. ' Many a man who tells you how to do a thing can't do it himself. There is no genius in life like the genius of energy and activity. The future destiny of the child is always tho work of the mother. To be good and disagreeable is high treason against the royalty of virtue. It is as great a point of wisdom to hide ignorance as to discover knowl edge. Culture may sandpaper and polish, but it cannot change the grain of the ! wood. | Fashion is only the attempt to real i ize art in living forms and social inter course. It is a good plan to say as little as possible about that of which one knows nothing. Pride is a vice which pride itself in clines every man to find in others, and to overlook in himself. There never wat found any pretend ed conscientious zeal but it was at tended with a spirit of cruelty. We notice that when a man is eco nomical, and saves up money for a rainy day, one generally comes. Mankind is always happier for hav ing been made happy. If you make I them happy now you will make them thrice happy twenty years hence in the memory of it. Despondency is not a state of hu mility. On the contrary, it is the vexation and despair of a cowardly pride ; nothing is worse. Whether we stumble or whether we fall, we must only think of rising again and going on our course. Vast Extent of Texas. Texas, the largest of the United i States, has an area of 262,290 square miles, says the Memphis Appeal-Ava lanche. To the casual reader these figures may seem very little; they show, however, that the Lone Star State is more than fifty-four times as j large as the State of Connecticut. If j it were possible to run a railroad train from Connecticut to Texas and back in a day, and if the train could take the entire population of the Nutmeg Stato as given in the last census at every trip, and upon its return to Connecti cut there should be as many persons in the State as there was before the train I left with its cargo, and if each were placed upon an acre of ground upon hie arrival JU Texas, the train would be obliged to make 224 trips, or to depopulate Connecticut 224 times, be fore accomplishing its mission, and then there would remain in Texas 703,808 empty acres. If the entire State of Texas were planted with corn and the hills were two feet apart and the rows were three feet apart, and if every man, woman and child in the State of Connecticut were set to work in tho field to hoe the corn, and each person were able to and did hoe two hills in five minutes, it would take this army of laborers seven years 280 days and seven hours to hoe every hill of corn in the State, laboring continu ously day and night 365 days each year. The man who fears that he could not elbow his way around in the crowded West without chaffing the nap of his coat sleeve may gather some solace from the statement that the entire population of the globe, 1,400,- 000,000 souls, divided into families of five persons each, could be located in Texas, each family with a house on a half-acre lot, and there would still re main 50,000,000 vacant family lots. A Wonderful Discovery. It is reported that Professor Em merich, of Berlin, has made A very valuable discovery in the treating of infectious diseases. In the course of his experiments he lias discovered that the blood of an animal which has re covered from an infectious disease will, if injected into it 9 veins, cure an other animal suffering with the same disease. At the last meeting of the Berlin Physiological Society somo statements were made regarding tho actnal experience of those who had followed out Professor Emmerich's idea experimentally that were strongly confirmatory of their soundness. Mice had been inoculated by the serum or watery portion of a horse'B blood, the horse having already l>eing cured pf the disease; the result was that the mice, which had been previously in oculated with tho bacilli of lockjaw, did not die when subjected to the treatment, while those left to them selves perished. Experiments are to be tried on human beings.—New Or leans Picayune. An Extraordinary Swallowing Feat. A German contemporary states that a very peculiar patient was recently I under treatment at tho Augsburg State , Hospital. A man, aged forty, had set himself the task of swallowing somo | 250 fruit stones. Having finished this ' extraordinary meal, he experienced j excruciating pain. While under treat ! ment the first day in the hospital the ; medical men succeeded in removing I 200 hazel nut stones. The man had | taken all this trouble to place his life in jeopardy for a wager of $1.25. —Now i York Telegram. OUR BUDGET OF FUN. HUMOROUS SAYINGS AND DO INGS HERE AND THERE. lokM and Jokeleta that Are Supposed to Have Been Recently Born—Sayings and Doings that Are Odd, Curlods, and Laugh able—The Week's Humor. Let Us All Laugh. A GOOD mirror always tells the truth, no matter upon whom It re flects.—Troy Press. WHEREVER the experienced blind man moves there Is an era of good feeling.—Troy Press. WHEN engineers and trainmen are well trained tho locomotive goes off on a toot.—Picayune. No MATTER how cheap quinine may he It is always a drug on the market. —Chicago Inter Ocean. THE tee man now calls every morn ing at tho home of the coal man and Joes him up.—Dallas News. POLICE officers In hoodlum districts naturally expect to have many a tougn experience.—IlulTalo Courier. WHEN a mercantile concern "takes in sail" It Is In the Interest of the balance-sheet.—Lowell Courier. IT IS highly probable that tho times which tried men's souls found some of them guilty.—Buffalo Courier. A PECULIARITY about It is that when money Is tight It's business that's apt to stagger.—Philadelphia Times. THE restaurateurs at tho Colum bian Exposition seem to think that a fair exchange Is no robbery.—lndian apolis News. WITH reference to these shows It may be said a dog's ancestral tree cannot be told by Its bark. —Phila- delphia Times. THE man who knows that he was one kind of a fool yesterday often has a suspicion that he Is some other kind to-day.—Ham's Horn. MR& SLIMDIET—"Don't you find it a little lonesome sitting down to luncheon all alone?" Bordaire—"Oh, no, the cheese Is here."—Truth. THE women In an insane asylum look, somehow, like the women you meet at home with a church enter tainment on their hands.—Atchison Globe. "Por R Mrs. Chatter is all worn out from talking last night." "Did sho lecture?" "Oh, no; It was a whist party she attended."—Chicago Inter Ocean. THE government of Russia has ex cluded "-Uncle Tom's Cabin" from the theaters ol that country, yet they call It despotic and Inconsiderate. —Phila- delphia Ledger. "WHAT makes Swigglns such an unconscionable liar*" "Stinginess. He has as many facts as anybody, but he hates to give them out."— Chicago Tribune. THE mosqulto-pest season seems to have reached Boston, when a clergy man preached a sermon the other day on "The Bigness of Little Things."— Philadelphia Ledger. WHEN a man considers how easy ho finds It to lend money, he cannot help wondering sometimes that ho finds It so hard to get unybody else to lend money to him.—Texas Sittings. Music TEACHER —"I don't know why you are displeased. Your daugh ter really sings very well." Father— "Yes; but how Is it that she nt vor sings anything but soprano."—Schalk. HICKS —"Brown seems wide awako enough when at Ills business, but at home he Is fearfully absent-minded." Wicks—"But then his wife has a mind of her own, and It Is quite un necessary that he should take his home with him."—Boston Courier, j A PRIVATE soldier, walking arm in-arm with his sweetheart, met his sergeant when about to enter a cheap restaurant. He respectfully Intro duced her to him: "sergeant, my sis ter!" "Yes, yes," was the reply. "I know; she was mine dice."—Lo Lltr to al. TIIS ELDER—I noticed that Mrs. Van West's father died the other day and left her a lot of land out In Da kota. I suppo e she will separate from Van West now. The younger— Separate? Why so? The elder- She will have very good grounds for a divorce, you soe.—Brooklyn Life. "LOOK at me, ma'am," said the man who was asking for something to eat. "Ain't I the picture of despair?" "I don't know anything about ycr bcln' a picture," she an swered, glancing at the ax; "but un less you're In the wood-cut line you can t get anything to eat here."— Washington Kar. THE conversation turned on the number thirteen, the spilling of salt, knives and forks placed crosswise, and other kin Is of superstitions. "You need not laugh at similar be liefs," gravely remarked Tranqull tottl. "An uncle of mine at the age of 77 committed the imprudonce of going to a dinner at which the guests numbered Ihlrteen." "And he died that very evening?" "No, but ex actly thirteen }ears afterward."— Gnzetta Pledmoutese. I "YES, I may take a few summer boarders this year," replied the old farmer, afler asking for a pound of reg'lar saleratus, "but I'm goln' to hev a fair set." "About what?" "Wall, princi pally as to butter'n' eggs and cream and such, but perticklarly as to slcepln'. We took an artist from New York last summer who upsot the hull home when be found he was to sleep with the hired man, and I I actually believe he kept a governor 'rom engigln' with us at #7 a week J ind washin' and mendln' thruwed in."—Detroit Free Press.