_Sunday School Teacher:_ Now, Alfred, if you are always kind and polite to your playmates, what will be the result?
_Alfred:_ They"ll think they can lick me!
A NATURAL PICTURE
A man and his eldest son went to have their photographs taken together, and the photographer said to the young man, "It will make a better picture if you put your hand on your father"s shoulder."
"H"m," said the father, "it would make a more natural picture if he put it in my pocket."
NOTHING TO SMILE AT
A Londoner was telling funny stories to a party of commercial men.
An old Scotsman, sitting in a corner seat, apparently took not the smallest notice, and no matter how loud the laughter, went on quietly reading his paper. This exasperated the story-teller, until at last he said: "I think it would take an inch auger to put a joke into a Scotsman"s head."
A voice from behind the paper replied: "Ay, man, but it wid need tae hae a finer point than ony o" yer stories, a"m thinking!"
DREW BLANK
The MacTavish was not a mean man. No; he just knew the value of money.
So, when the MacTavish developed a sore throat he meditated fearfully upon the expenditure of a doctor"s fee. As an alternative he hung about for a day and a half outside the local doctor"s establishment. Finally he managed to catch the great man.
"Say, doctor! Hoo"s beez-ness wi" ye the noo?"
"Oh, feyr, feyr!"
"A s"pose ye"ve a deal o" prescribin" tae dae fer coolds an" sair throats?"
"Ay!"
"An" what dae ye gin"rally gie fer a sair throat?"
"Naethin"," replied the canny old doctor, "I dinna" want a sair throat."
A FRIEND IN NEED
What true friendship consists in depends on the temperament of the man who has a friend. It is related that at the funeral of Mr. Scroggs, who died extremely poor, the usually cold-blooded Squire Tightfist was much affected.
"You thought a great deal of him, I suppose?" some one asked him.
"Thought a great deal of him? I should think I did. There was a true friend. He never asked me to lend him a cent, though I knew well enough he was starving to death."
WHAT HE PREFERRED
He was one of the few remaining old-time darkies. He had finished the odd jobs for which he had been employed, and, hat in hand, appeared at the back door.
"How much is it, uncle?" he was asked.
"Yo" say how much? Jest whatever yo" say, missus."
"Oh, but I would rather you"d say how much," the lady of the house replied.
"Yas, ma"am! But, ma"am, Ah"d rather hab de seventy-five cents yo "would gimme dan de fifty cents Ah"d charge yo"."
READY TO JOIN
_Minister:_ Would you care to join us in the new missionary movement?
_Miss Ala Mode:_ I"m crazy to try it. Is it anything like the fox trot?
HELPFUL PA!
_He:_ Do you think your father would be willing to help me in the future?
_She:_ Well, I heard him say he felt like kicking you into the middle of next week.
"Daughter," said the old man, sternly, "I positively forbid you marrying this young scapegrace! He is an inveterate poker player!"
"But, papa," tearfully protested Alicia Hortense, "poker playing is not such an awful habit. Why, at your own club----"
"That"s where I got my information, daughter. I"ll have no daughter of mine bringing home a man that I can"t beat with a flush, a full house, and fours."
"I think, Lucille, I"ll take one of the children to the park with me.
Which one do you think would go best with this dress?"
HE KNEW
Mr. and Mrs. Smith had been invited to a friend"s for tea, and the time had arrived for preparing for the visit. "Come along, dearie," said Mr.