There was an old monk of Siberia, Whose existence grew drearier and drearier; He burst from his cell With a h.e.l.l of a yell, And eloped with the Mother Superior.
It was scarcely half-past nine when the rather fierce-looking father of the girl entered the parlor where the timid lover was courting her. The father had his watch in his hand.
"Young man," he said brusquely, "do you know what time it is?"
"Y-y-yes sir," stuttered the frightened lover, as he scrambled out into the hall; "I--I was just going to leave!"
After the beau had made a rapid exit, the father turned to the girl and said in astonishment:
"What was the matter with that fellow? My watch has run down, and I simply wanted to know the time."
"What were you and Mr. Smith talking about in the parlor?" asked her mother. "Oh, we were discussing our kith and kin," replied the young lady.
The mother look dubiously at her daughter, whereupon her little brother, wishing to help his sister, said:
"Yeth they wath, Mother. I heard "em. Mr. Thmith asked her for a kith and she thaid, "You kin.""
During a discussion of the fitness of things in general some one asked: "If a young man takes his best girl to the grand opera, spends $8 on a supper after the performance, and then takes her home in a taxicab, should he kiss her goodnight?"
An old bachelor who was present growled: "I don"t think she ought to expect it. Seems to me he has done enough for her."
A young woman who was about to wed decided at the last moment to test her sweetheart. So, selecting the prettiest girl she knew, she said to her, though she knew it was a great risk.
"I"ll arrange for Jack to take you out tonight--a walk on the beach in the moonlight, a lobster supper and all that sort of thing--and I want you, in order to put his fidelity to the proof, to ask him for a kiss."
The other girl laughed, blushed and a.s.sented. The dangerous plot was carried out. Then the next day the girl in love visited the pretty one and said anxiously:
"Well, did you ask him?"
"No, dear."
"No? Why not?"
"I didn"t get a chance. He asked me first."
Uncle Nehemiah, the proprietor of a ramshackle little hotel in Mobile, was aghast at finding a newly arrived guest with his arm around his daughter"s waist.
"Mandy, tell that n.i.g.g.ah to take his arm from around yo" wais"," he indignantly commanded.
"Tell him you"self," said Amanda. "He"s a puffect stranger to me."
"Jack and I have parted forever."
"Good gracious! What does that mean?"
"Means that I"ll get a five-pound box of candy in about an hour."
Here"s to solitaire with a partner, The only game in which one pair beats three of a kind.
_See also_ Love; Proposals.
COWARDS
Mrs. Hicks was telling some ladies about the burglar scare in her house the night before.
"Yes," she said, "I heard a noise and got up, and there, from under the bed, I saw a man"s legs sticking out."
"Mercy!" exclaimed a woman. "The burglar"s legs?"
"No, my dear; my husband"s legs. He heard the noise, too."
MRS. PECK--"Henry, what would you do if burglars broke into our house some night?"
MR. PECK (_valiantly_)--"Humph! I should keep perfectly cool, my dear."
And when, a few nights later, burglars _did_ break in, Henry kept his promise: he hid in the ice-box.
Johnny hasn"t been to school long, but he already holds some peculiar views regarding the administration of his particular room.
The other day he came home with a singularly morose look on his usually smiling face.
"Why, Johnny," said his mother, "what"s the matter?"
"I ain"t going to that old school no more," he fiercely announced.
"Why, Johnny," said his mother reproachfully, "you mustn"t talk like that. What"s wrong with the school?"
"I ain"t goin" there no more," Johnny replied; "an" it"s because all th"
boys in my room is blamed old cowards!"
"Why, Johnny, Johnny!"
"Yes, they are. There was a boy whisperin" this mornin", an" teacher saw him an" b.u.mped his head on th" desk ever an" ever so many times. An"
those big cowards sat there an" didn"t say quit nor nothin". They let that old teacher bang th" head off th" poor little boy, an" they just sat there an" seen her do it!"