an the
pumps, and the first one to get a stream on to the flag pole wins.

Last summer there came a real fire. As the fire was nearest to their
engine house the Alerts got there, and got a stream on to the fire
before the Reliables arrived. As they came panting and puffing up the
hill the captain of the Reliables saw this, stopped, waved his hand back
at his company and said,

"They have beat us, boys; you can go back."

* * * * *

There is one good thing about Des Moines, according to the
advertisements they are running in the magazines. There are twenty
railroads running out of it.

* * * * *

On 125th Street in New York City there is a piano dealer by the name of
Wise. On every window of his store he has painted--

"What is home without a piano? Wise."

And he is correct.

* * * * *

One week in Omaha, Neb., the advertising in front of the Gaiety Theater
read--

"The Midnight Maidens.
15 to 75 cts."

* * * * *

A Montreal furrier advertises--

"Fur cap, $1.00.
Good Fur Cap, $1.25.
Real Fur Cap, $1.50."

"HEART INTEREST"

When you go into a Continuous Vaudeville show you expect to see all
sorts of acrobatic marvels, trained animals, and funny people. You
expect to hear sweet singers, talented musicians, and funny comedians.
But once in awhile you see and hear some little gem of sincere, heart
interest.

And so, just in order to give that little touch of the "heart interest,"
I am going to tell you of a couple of little incidents that came into
our lives at different times.

One night several years ago we were playing in a little town way up in
the mountains of Pennsylvania. The night telegraph operator at the
railroad station was an old schoolmate of mine. And so after the show
was over I went over to the station to have a visit with him. It was a
still cold night in the middle of winter and we sat around the little
stove in his office, talking over our boyhood days back in New
Hampshire.

Along about midnight the outer door opened and a poor, ragged,
hungry-looking young chap of twenty-two or three stepped in and walked
to the stove. After he had got his hands thawed out a little he came
over to the window of the telegraph office and handed the operator a
piece of paper. It was just a piece of common wrapping paper with a
message written o